The Inception: The Augmented Human Rebellion - Book 1 (14 page)

Everyone on Liley holds their collective breaths, waiting to see what the
Artons warships will do - they only missed a few breaths.

Within seconds, the Artons warships fire a volley of missiles at the
space station, and then turn to face the warships of the AH Navy and the Liley
Navy. The automatic defensive systems, on the space station, destroy the
attacking missiles - and the citizens of Liley once again hold their collective
breaths.

Admiral Nemo is surprised that the Artons Empire has only sent 30
warships – “they have underestimated us,” he thinks.

The Liley Navy forms up, between the Artons Fleet and the planet.
The AH Navy forms up, outside of the perimeter of the Artons Fleet, thus
positioning the Artons vessels between the two groups.

It must be clear to the Artons Fleet Admiral that they are surrounded,
but he apparently believes that they have a superior fighting force.
Whatever the reason, the Artons Admiral orders an attack. The Artons
vessels commence firing on all Liley and AH Navy vessels.

“Form up, in groups of 2 and execute response Charley” on my mark,”
orders Admiral Nemo. …… …………… “Execute.”

All Liley vessels split into units of two, and attack an Artons vessel –
one that has been selected for them, by Darius, the Integrity Artificial
Intelligence. Admiral Nemo’s strategy for this battle is for the Liley
forces to ‘gang attack’ selected vessels, and to concentrate all weapons fire
on the engine rooms. Once the ship is ‘dead in the water’, the attackers
move to the next vessel, as selected by Darius.

The battle, from its inception, is so compacted that missiles and rail
guns are of little use - because they don’t have time to build up speed.
It is energy weapons range, and the AH Navy vessels have a weapons superiority
advantage over the Artons vessels.

Even without weapons superiority, the Liley Navy vessels are defeating
the Artons vessels by a 2 to 1 margin. The reason for the Liley success,
even with inferior weaponry, is that the AH Navy has taught the Liley Navy the
trick of rotating their vessels, in order to spread the Artons’ laser and
plasma energy over the entire hull.

It is clear to Admiral Nemo that the Artons Navy has never really faced a
trained enemy force. They have always bullied their way to victory.

That is not happening today, as more and more ‘dead in the water’ Artons
vessels are out of the battle - and not just out of the battle, but essentially
captured. The Admiral expects that the Liley fleet may double in size
today. The AH Navy may even want a few of those captured vessels.

***

Out of Work

Once again the AH Navy has worked itself out of business. The
planet Liley has defeated the dreaded Artons Empire, and has established
itself, as a regional power. With a fleet of 35 warships and a navy
proven in battle, the Liley government feels confident that they can make it
without AH Navy assistance.

Admiral Nemo does exercise his prerogative, for first choice among the
‘spoils of war’. He selects 3 of the best Artons warships - packed solid
with munitions - and 1 space-worthy but damaged vessel, which is loaded with
even more spare munitions and parts. There are over 300 Liley sailors,
who request release from their Navy, so that they can join the AH Navy.
The Liley government approves their requests, and gives the departing sailors
their blessing.

The AH Navy bids farewell to the Liley citizens and heads for home.

***

Tubor

When the Augmented Human Navy, reaches Tubor, their home planet, they
see a world that has been totally destroyed. There is nothing left but
radioactive dirt. The 3
^rd
planet and all of the latern people
are gone. The 4
^th
planet, Parma, and its grenu species are
unharmed.

The ‘home’ of the AH Navy is gone, as is the Starfire freighter, which
was left to orbit the planet.

***

The Integrity’s AI – Darius – announces: “The AH Navy vessel
Starfire is approaching, from the asteroid belt.”

Captain Yeagl, the Starfire’s commander, contacts the Admiral and gives
him the report, on the destruction of Tubor.

He tells the Admiral that a fleet of 20 Verm Navy warships entered the
system. As soon as the Starfire detected the warships, she collected the
shuttles, and did an FTL hop into the asteroid belt. Captain Yeagl
observed, as the Verm Navy Fleet approached the 4
^th
planet.
The Fleet stayed there for a few days, and then they left Parma and traveled to
Tubor - which they promptly nuked. Afterward, the Verm Navy fleet entered
FTL space, and has not been seen since.

***

There is a great mourning aboard the AH Navy Fleet, for the larten
species and for the planet Tubor. After a few days, that mourning is
replaced by a great anger, directed at the Verm Navy Fleet and at the grenu
people, on the planet Parma.

On their way out of the system, the AH Navy Fleet stops at Parma and
carries out the Admirals promise, to the grenu species. He had promised
to turn the Parma military infrastructure ‘to dust’, if they molested the
people of Tubor. They deserve worse, but the Admiral will not commit
genocide, for any reason.

The AH Navy pulverizes all Parma military facilities, all military
equipment, all of the space ships, and the space station. They pronounce
a curse, and a pox, on the grenu species and then they leave.

The AH Navy spends 3 weeks in deep space, near the Crishon system, before
traveling on. The effects of the loss of Tubor are profoundly
disturbing. The Fleet must never put another species at risk, by asking
them to provide a home for the AH Navy.

***

Have Gun, Will Travel

The AH Navy Fleet, of 9 warships and 3 freighters, enters FTL space and
heads toward the frontier, where they had their last job. They should
have a good reputation there, and perhaps word-of-mouth advertising will open
some doors.

The Fleet emerges outside of the Liley system and Admiral Nemo sends the
Nemesis, to greet the people and to check on conditions. All is well and
the Fleet is invited in, but the Admiral respectfully declines, saying that
they need to get about their business. That comment reminds the Liley
representative, that another star system had asked who Liley had paid for
‘protection’. The representative reports that Liley gave the AH Navy a
wonderful recommendation. The Liley rep sends the coordinates for the system,
which requested protection information, and the AH Navy is in FTL space minutes
later.

The trip to the potential job site requires a few FTL jumps and when the
fleet emerges from the last jump, they are looking at the strewn wreckage of a
space battle. There are some life-signs in one of the nearby vessels.

The Admiral orders more life-sign scans, as the Nemesis is en-route to
rescue the survivors. There are 3 survivors on one ship, and no other
life-signs are detected. The humanoid survivors are delivered to the
Medical facility of the Integrity, and are provided with medical care and
food.

The humanoids are bipedal, but are quadmanual –
i.e.
they have 4
arms. The Admiral thinks: “Wow. That would certainly give a species
an advantage.”

When the survivors have been stabilized and fed, the Admiral visits with
them and Darius translates. “Where are you from and who were you
fighting?” asks the Admiral.

“We are natiun people from the planet Keysl,” is the response.

“Is the planet Keysl in the nearby star system?” asks the Admiral.

“No. We are 5 FTL jumps away,” responds the patient.

“Why did you come here to attack this fleet?” asks the Admiral

“To destroy them before they can destroy us. They have destroyed
two planets and ours is next. If we don’t surrender they will destroy
us. We will have to be their slaves or die.”

“Who won this battle?” asks the Admiral.

“They won,” answers the patient. “We are doomed.”

***

Admiral Nemo dispatches the Nemesis to inquire about providing protection
services, for the nearby planet’s inhabitants.

The system is named after the primary planet – Jantl. The iturune
species are the dominant sentients on the planet, although there is a diverse
mixture of other species. The survivors from the space battle tell the
Admiral that the ‘diverse mixture’ are slaves, from various conquered planets.

The iturune leader invites Admiral Nemo to visit the capital of Jantl, as
his guest, so that they can discuss the possibility, of the AH Navy providing
‘protection services’ for him and his people.

Admiral Nemo is inclined to say “no” to the request, to come planet-side,
but decides that the visit might provide some worthwhile intelligence
information. The Admiral has no plans to ever work for a ‘slaver’.

***

Aboard the Nemesis

“It feel like ‘old times’ with you aboard the Nemesis again, Admiral,”
says Danion.

“It does, Danion,” replies the Admiral. “That was a much simpler
time, but I still prefer my new life. How about transferring, to the
Integrity, as my personal assistant?”

“Thank you sir, but I prefer the ‘thrill of battle’, to the ‘thrill of
endless meetings’.”

The Admiral laughs and says: “I think I do also, but I am needed in those
endless meetings. How about you and I communicate through our ‘mind links’?
I’ve been missing that.”

“Will do, Admiral. How about we start—now?”

The “now” portion, of the statement, comes through on the Admiral’s ‘mind
link’. The Admiral laughs, and says: “That feels good – let’s use this
for the duration of the trip.”

“Aye sir.”

They touch down at precisely the appointed time. The Premier, named
Awvrt, is waiting at the spaceport when the Admiral arrives. After a
welcoming, the Premier suggests: “How about a quick tour?”

“Sounds good,” replies the Admiral.

The ‘quick tour’ lasts for hours and is everything that the Admiral had
hoped for. He picks up a lot of intelligence about the military, the
economy, the society, and about the self-centered, egotistical, arrogant, and
obnoxious Premier. He observes slaves being brutally treated and living
in squalor, next to beautiful homes. The Admiral is ‘live streaming’
video and audio to Danion, aboard the Nemesis.

Once they get down to business, at the Premier’s office, Admiral Nemo understands
why the Premier wants protection services. The Artons Empire has given
Jantl an ultimatum – surrender or die. The Admiral’s success at Liley has
impressed Premier Awvrt so much that he agrees to the Admiral’s high price,
without any haggling.

The Admiral tells the Premier that he will need to know the number and
types of vessels in the Jantl space navy, in order to develop a plan. He
asks the Premier to forward that information to him aboard the Integrity, and
excuses himself by saying: “It has been a pleasure Premier but I really must
go. I have another meeting in 2 hours.”

The Premier responds: “I understand that perfectly, Admiral - the
meetings never end. I will get the naval information to you and I look
forward to adding your team, to my team.”

***

The Keysl System

The Premier
does forward the information about the Jantl Navy.

After the
Admiral receives that information, he sends a quick communiqué to the Premier,
which says: “Have to make a quick trip. I’ll get back to you.”

Then the
Augmented Human Navy enters FTL space headed for the planet Keysl - the home of
the 4 armed natium people.

The AH Navy
emerges inside Keysl’s system, sending the Keysl Navy into a panic. The
Admiral puts one of the rescued Keysl sailors on the view-screen, to calm the
fears of the defensive forces.

The Admiral
then explains that his naval force offers protective services, for a fee.
The Keysl Naval officer responds that they sure need protective services, but
that the ‘fee’ part will be a problem. The Admiral reassures him with
“maybe we can work that out.”

Their
reputation has preceded them to this planet, as well. The defeat of the
Artons Navy Fleet has impressed everyone in this sector, and has awakened hope
for continued self-determination.

Admiral Nemo initially counsels most potential clients that their long
term security needs will require membership in some kind of ‘mutual protection’
alliance, with other star systems. Any attacking empire must know that
they will face severe retribution, from a massive alliance navy. No other
threat will deter them.

Next, the Admiral discusses their current security threat. If that
threat were to be the Verm Empire or the Darinx Empire, the Admiral would tell
the potential client that his Fleet cannot help – the enemies are too
large. If the enemy is the Artons Empire, the Admiral would give the
potential client a ‘probability of success’ estimate. If the enemy is a
planet, such as Jantl, the Admiral can give a high probability of success.

A ‘95% probability of success’ is the estimate that the Admiral gives to
the military and civilian natium leaders, of the Keysl system. The
government of Keysl is eager to employ the Augmented Human Navy, but the planet
is financially broke, because of the drain of war expenses on their economy.

Admiral Nemo reassures them that he understands their situation, but that
he will give them a special deal, because he hates ‘slavers’.

The ‘special deal’ is that the AH Navy will do this job for the rights to
all of the ‘spoils of war’. The Keysl government is thrilled with the
deal, and signs the agreement.

Admiral Nemo has ‘privileged information’ concerning the Jantl Navy’s
upcoming plans for attacking Keysl. He and Danion, the Nemesis’ AI, were
‘mind linked’ while the Admiral was conferring with Premier Awvert, on the
planet Jantl. Danion was able to tap into the planet’s wireless computer
link, while the Admiral was in the Premier’s office. Some of the
information, which Danion recorded, concerns an upcoming Jantl Navy attack on
the planet Keysl. The surprise attack,
by the Jantl Navy is scheduled to occur in two days. Admiral Nemo even
knows the battle plan.

The Admiral orders the Keysl Navy to assemble in front of the planet’s
space station, in Battle Stations alert. He orders his own warships to
assemble, at the coordinates where the Jantl Navy is to emerge, into Keysl
space.

Ordinarily, the Admiral would order his ships to destroy the enemy
vessels, while they are in the vulnerable processes of emerging. This
time he instructs his Navy, to target the Engineering sections of the emerging
vessels, but to try and disable them, rather than destroying them - he hopes to
capture the vessels and to claim them for the AH Navy, as ‘spoils of war’. The Jantl vessels are technologically
inferior to the Verm Navy warships, which are the core of the AH Navy, but they
are still good enough for most battles.

***

The Jantl Navy battle plans go like clockwork. The Fleet emerges
right on time and at the expected coordinates. The AH Navy warships are
there waiting for them. Over half of the Jantl Navy warships emerge ‘dead
in the water’, because their Engineering sections are disabled, by the AH Navy
energy weapons.

That still leaves the Jantl Fleet, with 23 healthy warships, and 25 disabled
warships – all of which have their weapons systems intact.

The Jantl Admiral should really be credited with avoiding disaster for
the planet Jantl. He could have moved away from the disabled vessels, in
order to run from the AH Navy attack. Running away would have resulted in
a sure victory for the AH Navy, because they could fight the healthy warships
first, and save the disabled vessels for later.

Because the Jantl Admiral chooses to stay at the point of emergence, and to
‘slug it out’ with the AH Navy, there are 48 warships targeting the AH Navy,
rather than just the 23 healthy warships. The battle rages, with Admiral
Nemo keeping his distance, rather than risking damage to his advanced
technology verm warships.

The long battle allows the Jantl Admiral the time that he needs for the
FTL drives, aboard the healthy warships, to cool off and be ready for use
again. When the FTL drives are ‘online’, the Jantl Admiral orders a
“charge”, through the line of AH Navy warships. As soon as the Jantl
ships get out of energy weapons range, the Jantl Admiral orders them into FTL
space, for home.

He got away into FTL space with 18 warships. At the end of the day,
there were 11 Jantl warships destroyed and 19 captured. Admiral Nemo
assures the crews, of the ‘dead in the water’ ships, that they will be
delivered to a planet, which they consider safe - therefore, none of those
vessels chooses to self-destruct. It speaks well, of the reputation of
the AH Navy, that the Jantl sailors believe the Admiral’s promise.

***

Admiral Nemo has agreed to pay some Jantl crewmembers to work for the AH
Navy, in order to get the ‘dead in the water’ ships repaired. Others are
being paid to train natium volunteers, from the planet Keysl, to operate the
Jantl vessels. The remainder of the Jantl POW’s, from the attack on
Keysl, are transported to a neutral planet, and given money for the trip
home.