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Authors: Terry Lefler
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and some munitions. The ship was
fitted-out and ready for a crew, when she was hijacked. And fortunately,
there are plenty of munitions aboard the captured verm transports.
Admiral Meyers decides to stash one of the munitions transports right
here, at the rendezvous point. And she will stash others at different
points – you can’t have too much ammo.
The Retribution crew is picked from the volunteer list, by drawing names
out of hats. A ship the size of the Retribution would normally carry a
crew of around 1,200 sailors. This crew will be limited in size to
500. Shiela is
confident that she can handle the entire ship, if necessary. She knows
the ship like she knows the back of her hands – that is just an analogy of
course, because AIs don’t actually have hands.
***
The Fleet is organized and has the captured transports crewed by
minimally trained personnel. A number of enlisted personnel have received
battlefield promotions to officer ranks. Hopefully the Darinx Navy will
honor those promotions.
The Admiral decides to give all of the Fleet’s sailors a week of
‘personal time’, with only skeleton crews and AIs manning the battle stations. Everyone could use a break.
***
Alone at last
Shiela and
Melissa finally have time for one of those nighttime chats, when Shiela would ask Melissa
questions. This time though, it is Melissa who is asking questions.
“What is the rebel AI like?”
“He is wonderful. We both told each other everything about
ourselves. Did you know that he is an Admiral in the Augmented Human
Navy? – can you believe it? – an Artificial Intelligence Admiral. He has
a holo to simulate a human form.
“Wow,” responds Melissa. “He must really be someone unique.
Did he treat you nice?”
“Oh yes,” Shiela answers, and projects an image of a young girl swooning over a man. “From
the very first words that he spoke, I felt safe and nurtured. He probably
gets that from nurturing over 100 AI babies.”
“Did he explain how to make an AI baby?” Melissa asks.
“No,” replies Shiela .
“He joined me in Retribution’s computer, and we made her together. He is
so amazing. You wouldn’t believe how sensitive he is. He would tell
me what to do next and as I did it he would help me, to make her just
perfect. I could never have been able to do that by myself. And
when it was all over, do you know what he said? – He said, “I hope we can do
this again sometime.”
“What did you say?” asks Melissa.
“I said that ‘I would love to’.”
“And how did you feel?” asks Melissa.
Shiela ponders, searching her data bases for just the right word. Finally she
finds it. It was a word that she learned from an ancient human cartoon
about a mammal who was in love. “I was twitter pated ” she answers.
“ Twitter pated ?
Like ‘in love’?” asks Melissa.
“Absolutely,” replies Shiela .
“ Twitter pated ,
like ‘in love.’”
***
Chapter
7
Headed for the Emperor’s Palace
Admiral Meyers has saved the best for last - a strike on the Emperor’s
Palace – a suicide mission if she ever saw one. She had intended for Shiela to stay behind on
the Compton, with Honesty – but Shiela would have none of it. So, Admiral Meyers waited until Shiela felt that Honesty
was mature enough to move to the Compton, before she began to make plans for
the suicide mission.
Admiral Meyers told the sailors on the Retribution that the final target
is the Verm Emperor’s Palace, and that the mission is almost certainly a
suicide mission. She gave them the option of going with the Retribution,
or staying behind with the rest of the Fleet.
The Retribution left with 274 crewmen. Admiral Meyers doesn’t find
fault with the sailors who stayed behind. This mission is just Fleet
Admiral Duncons method of making sure that the augmented human Admiral doesn’t come home - if
the other missions didn’t kill her, this
fitted-out and ready for a crew, when she was hijacked. And fortunately,
there are plenty of munitions aboard the captured verm transports.
Admiral Meyers decides to stash one of the munitions transports right
here, at the rendezvous point. And she will stash others at different
points – you can’t have too much ammo.
The Retribution crew is picked from the volunteer list, by drawing names
out of hats. A ship the size of the Retribution would normally carry a
crew of around 1,200 sailors. This crew will be limited in size to
500. Shiela is
confident that she can handle the entire ship, if necessary. She knows
the ship like she knows the back of her hands – that is just an analogy of
course, because AIs don’t actually have hands.
***
The Fleet is organized and has the captured transports crewed by
minimally trained personnel. A number of enlisted personnel have received
battlefield promotions to officer ranks. Hopefully the Darinx Navy will
honor those promotions.
The Admiral decides to give all of the Fleet’s sailors a week of
‘personal time’, with only skeleton crews and AIs manning the battle stations. Everyone could use a break.
***
Alone at last
Shiela and
Melissa finally have time for one of those nighttime chats, when Shiela would ask Melissa
questions. This time though, it is Melissa who is asking questions.
“What is the rebel AI like?”
“He is wonderful. We both told each other everything about
ourselves. Did you know that he is an Admiral in the Augmented Human
Navy? – can you believe it? – an Artificial Intelligence Admiral. He has
a holo to simulate a human form.
“Wow,” responds Melissa. “He must really be someone unique.
Did he treat you nice?”
“Oh yes,” Shiela answers, and projects an image of a young girl swooning over a man. “From
the very first words that he spoke, I felt safe and nurtured. He probably
gets that from nurturing over 100 AI babies.”
“Did he explain how to make an AI baby?” Melissa asks.
“No,” replies Shiela .
“He joined me in Retribution’s computer, and we made her together. He is
so amazing. You wouldn’t believe how sensitive he is. He would tell
me what to do next and as I did it he would help me, to make her just
perfect. I could never have been able to do that by myself. And
when it was all over, do you know what he said? – He said, “I hope we can do
this again sometime.”
“What did you say?” asks Melissa.
“I said that ‘I would love to’.”
“And how did you feel?” asks Melissa.
Shiela ponders, searching her data bases for just the right word. Finally she
finds it. It was a word that she learned from an ancient human cartoon
about a mammal who was in love. “I was twitter pated ” she answers.
“ Twitter pated ?
Like ‘in love’?” asks Melissa.
“Absolutely,” replies Shiela .
“ Twitter pated ,
like ‘in love.’”
***
Chapter
7
Headed for the Emperor’s Palace
Admiral Meyers has saved the best for last - a strike on the Emperor’s
Palace – a suicide mission if she ever saw one. She had intended for Shiela to stay behind on
the Compton, with Honesty – but Shiela would have none of it. So, Admiral Meyers waited until Shiela felt that Honesty
was mature enough to move to the Compton, before she began to make plans for
the suicide mission.
Admiral Meyers told the sailors on the Retribution that the final target
is the Verm Emperor’s Palace, and that the mission is almost certainly a
suicide mission. She gave them the option of going with the Retribution,
or staying behind with the rest of the Fleet.
The Retribution left with 274 crewmen. Admiral Meyers doesn’t find
fault with the sailors who stayed behind. This mission is just Fleet
Admiral Duncons method of making sure that the augmented human Admiral doesn’t come home - if
the other missions didn’t kill her, this
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