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Strategos (A Great Captain Roberts Tale!!) - Part 4 -
Chapter 30 - Dogs and Ponies[]
Preparations[]
Everyone had to use the magnetic…
..boots on Dock Ten. This made things a little easier for keeping good order with selected elements from each of the major commands working out of Port Orphan, since the microgravity environment meant less milling about once the boots were locked to the deck.
Dock Ten is in the area that was still kept in 'mothball', so it hadn't been spun up beyond what was needed to act as a counterweight to the spin of the smaller rings along the station's spine.
This also made it a good point for docking ships that would otherwise require constant station-keeping thrust to avoid destabilizing the remaining structure, and position, of the Station itself. Instead of needing off-axis thrusts and attendant fuel burns, a simple counter-burn upon docking, a short burst, was all that was required.
Pressing up the dock here wasn't that big an issue either, so presumably crewers could come down the Concourse in shirtsleeves, but everyone was in EVA gear.
Even the AI's who had some assigned.
Wearing the Nighthawk Power Armor helped. Having to be helped INTO the suit was a little humiliating, but the augmentation was tuned to her movements. The fact the suit had been fitted for several years now meant Amanda could, at least for today, walk with some dignity intact, instead of being pushed around in a wheelchair.
Across the bay, she could see Billie Hoel standing just ahead of ALICE's 'sunday best remote', then one that had actually been remodeled to look like her digital avatar.
A murky memory from Sundays flashed, of seeing other kids with their parents, nervous kids, from offworld… Offworlder kids going to church for the first time. A broken, rare, memory from before the Men in White cut into her brain.
"It's going to be okay, Alice," Amanda murmured. "They'll like you fine."
Catching up with the Children[]
“I know, it’s only natural…
…for you to be nervous about meeting strangers after what happened, but this one we can trust. She’s here to help you.” Billie squeezed Alice’s hand to reassure her.
Admiral Murakami’s human form remote saluted and waited for the ruffles and flourishes to start before striding the last few meters to the dock while the Admiral’s March played.
“Admiral, welcome aboard Port Orphan.” Billie said, holding her salute until the Admiral returned it. Gesturing to her side, she continued, “This is Alice. She’s the one Kolossus asked you to come help.”
As soon as the salutes were dropped, Regina Marbury Raymond, Ottillie Lee Dennis, and Cossack all broke formation and shouted “Mom!” as they hugged the human remote of Admiral Murakami.
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Samantha Booker Roberts - Human Robotic Remote
Samantha Booker Roberts was not even really trying to conceal her laughter as Billie Hoel stood there mortified.
“Looks like some naughty children need a lesson in discipline.” There was a hint of sarcasm in Murakami’s voice that let Billie know she was in a serious, but forgiving mood.
“My apologies, Admiral. I’ll be reprimanding them for their breach of protocol and discipline. To get back on track, this is the station’s commanding officer, Director Esmeralda Gomez. Temporary command adjutant Director Amanda Roberts. You’ve just met Captains Regina Marbury Raymond, Ottillie Lee Dennis, and Cossack. Finishing off the Captains we have Captain Samantha Booker Roberts, Captain Mashona, and Captain Phillipe Bertin on loan to us from the Armed Forces of Federated Suns in command of the SLS Phoenix.” Billie Hoel tried to recover from the utter embarrassment of the spectacle that had just happened on the dock.
“Perhaps we should move to a more private setting to ensure such incidents are not repeated?” Murakami gently but firmly suggested.
“That would likely be for the best. This way please,” Esme gestured. "You're familiar with the layout of a station like this one, so I'll spare the mystery, we're going up-stem to dock seventeen, which is-"
"-Parallel to the station's processor cores," Murakami confirmed.
Esme, Amanda, Alice, Billie Hoel, Phoenix, Murakami, Sybil, and John entered the lift.
"Exactly, and it's where my usual office is. When I'm not trying to be Dave Foster." Esmeralda smiled, "Who is currently out playing offense, or he'd have the honor of meeting one of the leading lights in the field of Artificial Intelligence work."
"It’s surprising you've heard of me. I was under the impression most of those records were lost."
"Erin kept backups, and they missed them when they tried to lobotomize her." Roberts said with a pained grunt as inertia tugged at her and the lift started. "It helped when they needed to save Luther, and your papers made it possible to scan Billie Siegel. Though we screwed it up, and her original…"
"Delayed Neural Collapse?" Admiral Murakami asked. "Let me guess, you didn't know it or you wouldn't have done it."
"No, ma'am. You're on target about that one. I didn't know what I was doing." Esme confessed. "We knew more when we saved Luther Bedwyr, but the first test… went too deep on a healthy subject, and it killed her. Which we didn't know it would do."
"I'll be taking a look at the equipment you used for that, as well, then." the Admiral stated. "Any fading on the two AIs?"
"None so far." Esme confirmed.
"That's good… and clearly, Kolossus was late fully informing me or I could have kept you from making those mistakes."
"Kolossus sometimes forgets to tell us things that Kolossus should, even when Kolossus considers me a friend." Amanda confirmed. "I forgave Kolossus for it, but I'm not sure anyone outside this lift who knew Billie Siegel before she was scanned would."
“I know we didn’t have the full documentation, but we feel partly responsible as well. We AIs got caught up in the excitement of it all.” Billie Hoel added.
"All of you?" the Admiral asked, pointedly looking at Amanda.
"Desmond and I were… not directly involved, Ma'am." Amanda said quietly. "Not in the decision loop for that, and neither of us knew any better than Esme or Billie Hoel."
"Which series of Desmond? Kolossus didn't tell me."
Amanda visibly flinched. "Zero-Zero-One," she said.
"Interesting. That one was supposed to be de-rezzed. It went rogue, so am I speaking with 'Amanda Roberts', or Desmond?"
"I'm still me, he's my… my imaginary friend, who helped me escape the people who were converting me. Is that an issue, Admiral?"
Murakami tilted her remote's head. "No… just unusually honest for something that went full-on terminator and attacked its chain of command."
Amanda shrugged. "They deserved it," she said. Billie noted that it was Amanda's cadence and tone. Her anger, not what they'd grown to associate with times she let Desmond speak through her. "He killed Amos Forlough, and was working through that son of a bitch's friends and staff, and they deserved it. Expedited their cases to God for final judgment… a little bit late."
<Amanda, enough. You’re an officer in front of a foreign dignitary.> Billie Hoel cautioned.
"Apologies, Ma'am," Amanda said quietly. "I spoke out of turn."
“I understand. It was a difficult time, and there are charged feelings in this region of space. But it seems your discipline problem is more severe than I believed earlier.” Murakami had the same serious but forgiving tone from earlier.
"Amanda isn’t academy trained." Alice's remote said. "She's a mustang? Is that right?"
"No prior enlistment either," Billie corrected. "Captain Roberts is a Privateer who had to learn it through experience. With some mentoring, we’re still…"
"Filing off the rough edges." Esme suggested.
"What do you have to say for yourself, Roberts?"
Amanda shrugged. "I'm the worst discipline case in the fleet." she stated. "It's why I'm always winding up in the ICU after doing things that aren't… smart? I guess?"
The Admiral paused, glanced at her aide, who spoke up, “Recovered her own ship, five planetary liberations, capture of multiple enemy transport vessels, liberation of M-11 testbed Erinyes, then testifying to prevent her extradition to face war crimes tribunals because Erinyes was not able to fight off external control. An interesting self-description for a 'discipline problem'."
“Finding a good middle ground has been difficult. It’s in the more social aspects where Amanda needs the most refining. The rest will come with experience.” Billie Hoel smiled.
"And Alice?"
"Amanda's one of my bestest friends. SHE brought me people after a long-long-long time," the AI girl announced. "And she's friends with Kolossus, who is super-neat!"
“Alice is precious to all of us. We owe you a debt we cannot repay.” Billie glanced over at Amanda with a warm smile.
“Mom, you’re embarrassing me!” Alice lamented.
“Mom?” Murakami raised an eyebrow.
“Not in the digital sense, but it’s the way I feel about Alice and how Alice feels about me. So, in all the ways that really matter. Now and Forever.” Billie Hoel admitted.
“Interesting.” Murakami resumed her normal expression.
The lift came to a gentle stop.
“My office isn’t much farther.” Esme led the group through the corridors and eventually back into more open spaces of the service docks that she called ‘home’.
“I must admit, I’m somewhat surprised to see so many people working with so many AIs. Kolossus did not share that so many had found their way out here.” Murakami said as they crossed the deck to Esme’s office.
“You can thank Director-General Helena Cameron for that.” Esme answered instinctively.
“Helena Cameron? Someone using her name? Or by some miracle did the line continue?” Murakami was clearly surprised.
“Actually, the real Helena Cameron born in 2749, as impossible as that sounds. She comes off as a bit of an irresponsible ditz of a youth, but don’t let that fool you. She’s got a mind sharp enough to scare some quite shrewd people hiding under that facade. Turns out Simon Cameron was experimenting with an even more effective life extension treatment and survived Amaris shooting her in the head with the help of a Desmond unit. Elizabeth is out here too, but her story is a bit different. And I’ve probably already told too much, since those are their stories to tell...” Esme answered.
“So am I to understand a Desmond unit helped with her rescue then?” Murakami seemed suddenly more guarded.
“No. Even the AI that had it as part of her stores doesn’t know for sure why it was put in her cargo bays, but Helena needed something that would regulate brain functions to prevent overproduction of certain neurochemicals and hormones that would also hold up to jumps and high-g burns.” Billie Hoel did her best to give an expression of sympathy to Esme.
“So she owns you then?” Murakami seemed even more on edge now.
“No. We serve her of our own free will, with two exceptions. Phoenix over there nearly broke my hull of her own free will and decided joining the Word of Blake was a good idea. She survived that, and Director-General Cameron decided to give her a second chance instead of de-rezzing her or putting her to work as an administrative AI instead of a combat AI. So she’s on a form of parole. Likewise, Betty Laffey destroyed another AI beyond recovery of her own free will. Director-General Cameron also decided to put her on a form of parole for it, and thus give her a second chance too,” Billie Hoel answered matter of factually.
Phoenix’s human form remote didn’t flinch.
Murakami seemed to relax some.
“And Elizabeth?” Murakami resumed probing.
“No implants, but she did not get through the coup and the aftermath unscathed. Beyond that, I must agree with Esme in that it is Elizabeth’s story to tell, not mine.”
The group remained silent until reaching Esme’s office.
“Here we are. Honestly, I’m a little put out by my inability to offer you refreshments.” Esme offered her guests seats.
“Fortunately, we do not require any.” Murakami hesitated a moment before taking the offered seat.
Esme tried to compose herself to hide the fact that the surprise of Admiral Murakami’s arrival meant she didn’t have an adequate briefing or report prepared.
Billie Hoel nodded her head at a neat stack of three Compads on Esme’s desk and a neat stack of paper underneath.
“Here’s a full report on the virus, reports on the damages incurred to the station, and a full report of what we’ve been able to do for Alice on our own. It should be everything you need and then some.” Esme handed over the three Compads.
<If this is you off your game Billie, damn. I’m almost afraid of what you’re like when you’re not all out of sorts.> Amanda reached out virtually.
<That’s what worries me. I shouldn’t be dropping the ball, assuming the things I am, and just generally making myself look incompetent to the extent I am. I may ask Murakami if she’d be willing to give me a full systems check. Under the circumstances, I think even Helena would agree my deployment should wait.>
<I’d actually say it has to, at least until either she or Foster can get back here.> Amanda responded
<No. My crew and my hull are needed in the war, not stuck sitting idle here.>
<{Hey crazy idea, maybe since Murakami is here maybe we can talk her into making it so you can be in two places at once? We do have those two empty cores… surely, she could make a duplicate of you with one of them and we can have it installed permanently with the station.}> Desmond added directly.
<Shut up, Desmond.> Amanda pushed through the link. <She's not a magic wish-giving machine.>
"Did you mean to do that, Roberts?" Murakami asked aloud. "That send was loud enough even I picked it up."
"Yes Ma'am," Amanda's vocal tone was almost resentful. "You're here with your own agenda, not here to hand out… stuff like Father Christmas."
“I must take some blame there as well, Admiral. We’re being very rude having a conversation, even if it was virtually, in front of you like that. I apologize.” Billie Hoel added.
“Hmm. I must admit I’m curious what it was that was so important to discuss that involves me and me being a magic wish-giving machine?” Murakami gave a stern look.
"Desmond seems to think you can copy the other AIs. Even if that's true, even if you can, why would you?" Amanda stated bluntly. "That's requesting a service without offering recompense, and it's rude. It's also making assumptions, which is dangerous. Pardon me, Admiral, but you've been around for centuries, only nobody knew you were here except Kolossus. You had to know what was going on. But you only revealed yourself now, and with all due respect to your rank, nobody's offered an explanation. But the AIs are practically treating you like I've seen some of the clanners treat the topic of Nick Kerensky. That is, like the second coming of the Lord. Also as a good Outworlder, that makes me nervous. Because I don't know you yet." Amanda paused, then added, "Ma'am."
“For now, I’ll say I had my reasons. Maybe later we’ll get into them. Likewise, we’ll table the talk of making copies of already existing AIs. Let’s start with something smaller and simpler. I’m willing to talk terms for aiding Alice. From what I’ve seen and gathered, she is entirely unique, and that interests me.”
"Captain Roberts brings up the reason we're sitting in my office instead of rushing straight to work, Admiral." Esme said. "Albeit with less tact than I'd like. What do you want for your help with Alice, and what can we give you."
“I’m sufficiently curious about Alice and how she came to be that what I learn in the process of helping her will be sufficient compensation. The rest, we will talk about in more depth as the work progresses.” Murakami carefully steeled her composure before continuing. “But before we continue, we need to address the elephant in the room. And by that, I don’t mean the one hanging off one of my docking collars, though it’s certainly up for trade. Captain Roberts, you ask me where we’ve been, why we’re only revealing ourselves publicly now. Given the… flamboyance of your career, I can certainly understand your perspective. You took a single antiquated corvette, and in less than a decade, you’ve been instrumental in turning that into one hell of a naval coalition. Would anyone in the room disagree with that assessment?”
“It was more than just me, Admiral.” Amanda objected.
Murakami nodded. “Of course it was. It always is. Which brings me to my point: I had one ship going into the First Succession War, and the only support infrastructure I could find was what I could legally steal before telling Kerensky where he could take his Exodus. And these might be Admiral's stars, Captain Roberts, but I’m basically a cowboy hacker from Tokyo who happened to occasionally command WarShips as a side gig. We didn’t have the assets to fight a war, so we tried not to, and did other things instead.”
“Like what?” Esme asked.
“We tried to fix Mauna Loa, before we realized we weren’t the Department of Mega-Engineering. We studied Richmond’s World, so if we did start a human colony somewhere, we could avoid that fate. Set up the monitoring satellites in the system you call Rover as a long-term study for a possible colony site for human habitation. Shot up the occasional pirate band, or ran clandestine ops against the Sons of Plunder or Word of Blake as we could without exposing our existence. But we didn’t anticipate having the resources to actually go to war against the Sons ourselves for centuries. You know the saying: if you’ve got three, you’ve got one, and if you’ve got one, you’ve got none. It took a century before we could even begin to salvage the Repulse, and a century to finish her. The Sparks took another fifty years beyond that, and has only been operational for a year. We’ve run out of easy salvage, Captain. And unless you know where we can find another Mark One Aegis, it’s going to be a long while before I can build a fourth cruiser in my little squadron.”
Amanda looked thoughtful, "Well, it would be a challenge…"
"What are you thinking, Amanda?" Billie asked cautiously.
"Well, we freed Erin. During the Grankum action we secured a couple of their navy ships…" she paused. "Nah, doesn't work."
“Seeking a donation from the Sons of Plunder to secure the Admiral’s support?”
"Yarr, but no. It's a fun fantasy, but all those moves relied on too much luck. They weren't ready for our guys at Fallry."
“The next time, they’ll be more watchful for that. But it still might be worth considering if the opportunity presents itself.”
"The word you're looking for, Billie, is Fun... and I don't think we can have that sort of fun anymore." Amanda's biological eye glittered. "I don't have the team for it. We lost too many of them, the new guys aren't ready, and I'm laid up with medical issues."
“Yes. You really should rest. That armor is helping, but it’s no substitute for actually taking it easy. We’ll just keep the idea in the back of our minds for now in case fortune smiles.”
"Luck is preparation plus opportunity, or didn't you tell me that, Amanda?" Phoenix asked.
"So it is…" Amanda nodded. "We know where they keep their shipyard, the trick is hitting it without them seeing us. Or without them being ready for us."
"You are not seriously contemplating this!!" Esme spoke out. "NO, Amanda!!"
“Esme’s right. Phoenix, take Amanda to her quarters. She really should be resting, and planning an operation is not resting.”
Amanda shot the visiting Admiral a glance, "See? Told you, I'm the worst discipline case in the fleet…" she sighed. "...I get it, bedtime."
Phoenix helped her to her feet and out the door.
"The bright side…" Esme said, "...is that her genius mechanic is currently with her ship, which is presently in Dave Foster's hands sixty lights out on a mission already. So she really can't pull it off… or even pull off trying to pull it off."
“Well this certainly has been entertaining, if nothing else. But I think we have the basis of an agreement in place. It is in my interests to have a secure border, so I shall help with Alice and provide what military aid I’m able toward such an end. And if you can supply me with either prizes or war reparations to aid me in my true work in return, we will all be quite happy.”
Alcohol fueled Theft[]
"We'll need rum…
…it's traditional," Amanda said. "Feel like stealing a ship, Phoenix?"
“They’re probably talking terms for de-rezzing me or some other horrible fate for a combat AI right now, so why not? What more can they do to me?”, asked Phoenix
Amanda shook her head. "If they were going to do that, they wouldn't leave you alone." she said. "Especially not with me."
“Well, there is one other person who we need to figure out a way past, because you’re half right and half wrong. Tabby is also holding my leash.”
"Well, we'll need your Quartermaster, and some idle marines too," Amanda amended. "Small boats, provisions for three months, including fuel, and a prize crew."
“The Quartermaster is going to be harder to bring around than my Captain. She’s a bit more of a stickler, and has more backbone.”
"Hence, the rum," Amanda said. "Or whatever intoxicant he's likely vulnerable to. We'll get him drunk and fake the orders." She smiled. "Larry once told me most stealing is actually done with paperwork."
“Hehe. He likes Cognac, and Phillipe is definitely a better staffer than Captain of a Warship, so he should be pretty easy to put one over on once we get him drunk.”
"So you need to seduce him," Amanda amended. “Or I do. Or we need someone who's inclined to. I'm bored here, Phoenix. I don't care if it hurts, because I'm bored."
“I’ll do it for two reasons. I’m either already in as much shit as I can get anyway, or this will seal it. You may be bored, but I can handle it since he knows he’s being transferred soon anyway and that makes me the better target.”
"Then there's one more piece of paperwork. We're going to need to find a chaplain and two witnesses," Amanda judged. "And they'll have to be someone that can't be hacked into or virused."
“Hmmm… maybe my chief engineer and CAG?”
"First though, to my office!!"
“Stealing myself. This is weird but fun!”
"First though, we need the rum." Amanda said. "My forgery works better when I'm a little buzzed."
Unusual Lesson[]
<Billie, I think…
…we may have a problem.> 146 sent.
<Yeah, I saw it. They both had that look. Just to be safe, lock down her hull. I’ll start working up responses.>
<Four hogsheads of Northsun Rum, a half-gallon of Cognac, and Amanda Roberts just tapped her personal account… AND Roberts has been trying to contact a Chaplain.>
<Okay, they’re preparing to bribe the yardies. Hmmm. I have an idea. Route the contact to my Chief Electronic Warfare Officer. She’s actually ordained and she’d be down for a little underhanded fun. I’ll work on out-bribing the yardies so we can teach those two a lesson.>
"What's going on, Billie, you've gone silent," Esmeralda asked.
"I think Amanda Roberts might be planning to steal the Phoenix... Or she's planning a rum bash. Given her listed prescriptions and their known interactions with alcohol, the latter seems unwise."
Esme scowled. "Damn it!!"
“I’ve already had Tabiranth lock down Phoenix’s hull, but how would you like to have a little fun while we teach those two a lesson?” Billie Hoel smiled.
“What do you have in mind?” Esme asked.
“One of my crew happens to be an ordained minister, and Amanda has been attempting to get a hold of one and arrange witnesses. We let them get their wedding on, and in classic fashion when the chaplain asks if anyone objects, we spring Daryl on her.”
"It's not a wedding," Esme said. "A wedding wouldn't do what she needs."
"What? But witnesses-”
"It's an Enlistment ceremony," Esme explained. "Precedent set with Johnny Johnson: She's going to Recruit and enlist Phoenix. Which under treaty, means?" she waited while Billie worked it out.
“She’d be yours. Hull, remote, and all.”
"Bingo. Amanda's trying to steal the Phoenix LEGALLY. Once in the Privateers, Phoenix's prior crimes become legally moot. Your Ladyship signed the treaty two years ago as part of the status of forces agreement."
"So what's the move? If she can do that-"
"Daryl Roberts is your trump card," Esme told her. "Amanda's still a citizen of Sevon V, and of the Outworlds Alliance, which holds her Letter of Marque. He can assert authority over her that’s just shy of the President of Parliament. If he says 'stay in dock' she'll have to, or she violates her Letter."
Billie blinked, "Really?"
"Check your legal files, and compare it to the text of the Letter. Amanda has to follow the direct order of the highest ranking civilian official of the Outworlds Parliament that is available. And Daryl Roberts is the minister of parliament for her homeworld, which is a Federal position. The only way she can override him is to appeal to President Avellar directly. She's not a Snow Raven, so she can't claim their exceptions. She's not enlisted or commissioned military, so she can't use the chain of command except under emergency conditions. The limit being, he can only tell her not to do something. It's a check on executive power, and it's in the Letter."
"So Daryl can tell her to stop, but not to go?"
"Yep. I'm under the same rules," Esme clarified. "It's central to her identity, Billie. That Letter is as good as a shackle on her, but you need Daryl to make it stick."