Lieutenant Spacemage (Imperium Spacemage Book 3) Read online

He paused, looking at groups of faces which looked apprehensive.

  “Take it from me, you won’t be able to tell the difference between your fellow pilots, and your co-pilot, as far as being a person is concerned. The AIs are real people. Don’t forget that. They are young, like a lot of you are, and still finding their way in this cosmos we all live in. And for some of them, they will be new to having real bodies.”

  “You were asked to step up. Now we’re asking them to step up. Your issues are going to be their issues. They’ll help you, and you’ll help them. You and your co-pilot could be together for your entire careers in the Imperium military. Every ship in the Imperium military has an AI, and so whatever ship you get assigned to, your AI co-pilot will move with you. The sooner you become an effective team, the sooner you transfer to a combat squadron.”

  “There is another side to this as well. I’m forming a new kind of fighter wing. The squadrons will be comprised of more than just good pilots. They will, like Navy Mage Squadron One, have skillsets which allow them to deploy into very diverse situations. Some of these will involve ground or station actions, and this is where your co-pilots will become an additional asset. Their avatar will deploy with you as the trooper covering your six. Even in regular squadrons, if you get shot down over a planet, your avatar will be there to help you both survive. And mark my words, there are planets where being shot down is not safe, because the locals don’t like anyone from space. One day, you may find your AI co-pilot saves your life in a situation you didn’t anticipate.”

  He stopped and looked around the room again.

  “Any questions?”

  “Do they choose their appearance?” said a voice. “Or can we help them with that?”

  Jane laughed. And changed places with Lacey.

  “That’s up to your AI. Those who already have an avatar somewhere, will simply display what they are already. But others have not made avatars yet, and these may be open to your suggestions. But I emphasize the maybe. The choice of how they look is theirs.”

  “What if we can’t get on with our co-pilot?” asked another voice.

  “You talk to your CO, who will talk to me if they can’t resolve the issue. I’m command rather than navy, and work specifically for the Imperator. The AIs are also my people. I’ll decide what happens. But make no mistake, like any assignment decision, you may not like what you’re offered or what my decision is. And sometimes the decision will come down to me from the Imperator, or from the Joint Chiefs. That’s military life for you. Make an effort to get on. Your life depends on it. Conflict will be resolved, and discharging you is one of the options.”

  There were a lot of nods, but also some frowns.

  “What about fraternization?” asked another voice, causing some laughs.

  “Not allowed between co-pilots, or within a squadron. This is standard Imperium military doctrine, and the same as militaries all over. And maybe I do need to spell this out. We AIs have the body we choose. We can eat and drink as we like, and have sex. The experience is not the same for us as it is for you, but it is still enjoyable. As we integrate AIs into squadrons and ship crews formally, the same rules apply as far as relationships go.”

  Now it was she who looked around the room.

  “AIs are just another species. You could call us shapeshifters the same as the Dragons or Wyvern are, although we are limited in body shapes by what is underneath our ‘skin’. This will change. There are already AIs with Lufafluf bodies, and colouring to match the skin colour of people they serve with now. We have two big cat dreadnaught drivers, and both of their AIs chose big cat bodies to match their captains. So when your co-pilot chooses how they look, it will be based partially on you, and what they already know you like. They may choose to be the same sex as you, or the opposite sex, or no sex at all. And that is their choice. However they choose to look, the same social conventions apply to them, as apply to you.”

  She flicked a glance at a table of the recently demoted. Then at us.

  “It won’t be long before we see a lot more different species represented in this room. The Lufaflufs want to fly, and we have a number of them in pre-flight training now. The big cats are sending us just graduated officers to be taught how to fly fighters as well. Other planets will be sending their young best and brightest to join us. And their AIs will choose how to look for them the same as they will for you. The Ralnor are also talking about sending us recruits to learn how to fly fighters. That has its own set of challenges, but it won’t be long before you see AIs in hopper bodies.”

  Now she looked only at the recently demoted.

  “My advice is make a friend of your co-pilot. Those who don’t will wash out of this program. It’s not a threat. We prefer to wash you out, rather than have you killed in combat. We need you, but we don’t need stupid. For now, as we adjust to the events of the last week, the aim is to get most of you into active squadrons as fast as possible. How fast is up to you. And how well you bond with your co-pilot will be part of that.”

  She stepped back.

  The butlers started taking lunch orders.

  Five

  The travel car didn’t take us to the simulator room.

  Instead, we found ourselves on an arm of the shipyard, where the smaller ship bays were. Jane met us, and we followed her around to a specific bay, and along the soft seal walkway to an airlock. Both outer and inner hatches were standing open.

  We were greeted by a young woman in navy uniform but without insignia, who had much of the same look as Lieutenant Commander Okuda had, meaning she was probably Japanese. I was wrong.

  “Welcome to Long Water,” she said. “You can call me Long. This way please.”

  She led us in to a main corridor, and along to the bridge, where she stood by the seat on the far left of the main console, and faced us. We’d been on this ship before, so the bridge layout was familiar, and what I remembered of the rooms off the corridor were too.

  Jane walked to the helm seat, and turned to look back. She looked at the center seat, and back to me.

  “Yours, captain. When you take your seat, you take command.”

  She waved a hand indicating I should sit.

  I sat. She waved a hand again for the rest of the team to sit as well, and they did so.

  “Captain Bud,” she went on. “Long Water is yours. Your Excalibur has been reassigned, and this is now your fighter. Long over there is now your official co-pilot. In a minute, you’ll take this ship out of the shipyard bay, and give it a quick shakedown flight. But before you do, there are a few things you need to know.”

  She looked around at all of us one by one, but quickly.

  “This ship is a prototype. It’s been substantially redesigned to be a mini carrier for fighter operations. The original design comes from fusing four Gunbus heavy corvettes into a single ship, which was useful in the Darkness War as a normal, if large, corvette, but has been completely impractical in this war. You were successful in using the impractical hangar design before, but none of you were happy with it. Consequently, the hangars were utilized for other things more important to keeping the ship alive.”

  “The internals have been gutted so we could start again, and what we did for a hangar this time was carve out an area in the center of the ship, where twelve Excaliburs can jump in and dock. Jumping in and out is the only way in and out, and so you’ll first need to learn to do this without destroying everything in the process.”

  Woof looked horrified, but Metunga was quite amused.

  “No problem,” said Jill, and while a few of them looked uncertain, we’d all done it before, so there wasn’t really going to be much problem, in theory.

  “The ship itself has been upgraded in every way, including four cruiser guns mounted aft firing forward, and sixteen dual destroyer turrets, eight forward, and eight more aft. In addition to its normal corvette point defenses, eighty torpedo tubes, and the front fighter style guns, it also has four strips of twenty five mosquito miss
ile launchers. The object of the design is a combination of a support vessel for a single squadron of fighters, and their battle support, including anti-missile defense.”

  I was already looking at the specs on a hollo screen only I could see. They’d done a real job on upgrading the ship.

  “Are you sure Lieutenant Commander Okuda isn’t going to want his ship back now?” I asked.

  “Quite sure. The Imperator assigned you to this ship, and that’s an order. Now, there are some implications of the new design and purpose. You, captain, given the ship is now a small carrier, are also designated ship’s CAG. However, given the nature of this squadron, the CAG title is going to be rotated among you, and out in space, that person will act the role of squadron leader, while Captain Bud has the role of wing commander. If you are ever joined by other squadrons of fighters, navy trumps fighter command, so a corvette captain assumes command of all squadrons. But you are still Navy Mage Squadron One, commanded by Lieutenant Bud, and your XO is still Jig Carter.”

  “Jig?” asked Serena.

  “Slang for Lieutenant Junior Grade,” said Jane. “It’s widely used by other militaries, and the slang has been approved now for general use. Just be sparing in its use. And never for official purposes. For the next few days, you’ll be training to use this ship effectively. You’ll bunk here, and the butlers should have your gear in your rooms already. The original design had officer accommodation in each section of the merged ship, and four separate living areas for up to twenty troops. All of that is gone. The new design has standard accommodation levels below the bridge level. Deck two is captain and XO’s suites, plus the ship’s third officer if it has one, along with mess and living rooms.”

  “Third officer?” I asked.

  “Our capital ships are set up for three shifts, in case of operations becoming continuous and requiring a people presence on the bridge. This ship is too small for the usual captain and three shifts of three people, so if needed, the ship will get a second and third officer. I can’t see that happening for your tour in corvettes, so Jig Carter gets the XO’s suite.”

  Tour. That was an interesting thing to drop. So this was the beginning of an actual tour of duty, which was good in one way because it meant our training was coming to an end, and once up to speed with the ship, we’d get some proper missions to run.

  “Below that are two levels of pilot accommodation, and then down to medical, gym, wet area, and armoury. There is a running track. I’ll let you experience it for yourselves.”

  Several of them looked relieved. They liked to run.

  “Below that is the hangar, which is aired up. There is not a lot of room in there. The ships are stacked on multiple levels, with each having its own unique bay. Narrow corridors lead to the main access shaft. Your PC arrows will direct you to the level your ship will be stored on, and then to your bay. The AI’s already have the location to jump into. But until someone does it, we don’t know what the effect will be, so don’t stand in the bays if you’re not getting in or out of the ship. Quite apart from you don’t want the ship landing on top of you, or merging with you, we don’t yet know what happens to the air when a ship jumps in. It didn’t matter with the previous conventional hangers, because they were in vacuum.”

  She smiled, but most of us had flinched. Loren had gone white.

  “One last thing. You’re not getting rid of me. I’ll be riding the bridge here with the captain. As soon as the ship is ready for combat, we’ll be combining with other units, and for now, this will be my flagship. And no, I’m not here to watch over anyone’s shoulder. I’ve had an avatar riding with Bud for some time now, and from now on, it’s an official appointment.”

  I can’t say it made any difference to me.

  “It’s one more thing for you to get used to. As you rise through the ranks and become captains in your own right, any one of you might play host to an admiral. Certainly as the Imperium navy grows, it will become necessary for admirals to separate from ship command once more, and so each fleet will host an admiral in command. So as part of your training, you get to host me.”

  She grinned. Smiles answered her. She nodded to me, and sat in the helm chair, swiveling to face front. But then looked over her shoulder at me.

  “Carry on, captain.”

  “Aye, admiral. Ship AI Long?”

  “Sir?”

  “Take us out.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  Six

  I made a show of buckling up.

  The others took the hint, including Jane. There were clunking noises which I assumed were docking clamps, and a screen popped up showing the walkway retracting. When it was clear, Long Water started to slide out of the bay. Once clear, the ship pointed away from the stations around the planet, and increased speed.

  “Orders?” asked Long.

  “What’s the checklist for a ship out of the shipyard?”

  A screen popped up showing a list of things to check.

  “Let’s get on with it then.”

  The next few hours saw us jump over to the nearest asteroid field, check all the guns fired, the anti-fighter and mosquito missiles launched, and the shields could take impacts from solid things without collapsing. As a step up from the Excalibur, it was nearer two steps, with the Cobra dropship being the first. The ship was substantially larger than the Cobra, but flew the same. In terms of mass, it probably really ought to be called a frigate, but it was corvette length, even though the other dimensions were more than frigate sized. Short and bulky, not long and sleek.

  I gave everyone a turn at the helm, throwing the ship around space however they wanted to, so they’d know it handled the same as the Excalibur did, albeit occupying a great deal more of said space. As we approached Haven station again, eleven Excaliburs came out to meet us.

  “For the first jump in,” said Jane, “we’ll do it at a dead stop. Just to make sure the AIs get the calibration right.”

  Norden shifted into full protection mode. The rest of us looked at him in surprise.

  “What?” came through our PCs. “Just in case.”

  “Ye of little faith,” said Jill, grinning.

  “Jump in three,” said Long.

  The only thing we noticed was the dots vanishing. A set of screens popped up, showing Excaliburs neatly centered in each bay, with a single one facing in the reverse direction to the rest.

  “Whose…” I started to say.

  One by one, they all toppled over, and with solid thumps we could feel vibrate through the ship, they ended up leaning on their nose and one stubby wing.

  “Oops,” said Jane, and we all lost it.

  Even Long was laughing with us.

  “What’s wrong with this picture?” asked Jill.

  “No landing struts?” suggested Woof.

  I threw a look at Jane, who was looking sheepish now.

  “Last time we jumped Excaliburs into a hangar, there wasn’t an actual deck for them to land on, just the pylon normally used in airless hangers. Could have been worse though.”

  “How could it be worse?” asked Norden, now back in normal uniform.

  “We might have forgotten to cut the thrust first.”

  Long winced visibly, which for a ship AI was saying something. The resultant mess of Excaliburs smashing through the bays and out the side of the ship would have seen us back in the shipyard. If not broken into two pieces.

  “Nice to know AIs are not infallible,” opined Loren.

  I could hear a but on the end of that, and waited for a moment for it, but it didn’t come.

  “So whose butt gets chewed for that little cock-up?” I asked.

  “Normally yours,” said Jane. “It’s your ship and everything that happens is your responsibility. But in this case, it’s mine, since I was coordinating the other AIs.”

  The ships vanished from the displays, appearing back out in space, appeared on the displays again, so we could see the drives come on again. Once at full speed, the thrust stoppe
d, and the landing struts appeared.

  They ripped clean off.

  Everyone but Jane completely lost it. It took us a couple of minutes to stop laughing this time, during which a salvage droid launched to collect the pieces. The ship’s thrust came on again, and they circled around Long Water.

  “Maybe it would be better to make a solid cradle for the ship to jump onto?” suggested Haynes.

  “You mean an Excalibur bed, don’t you?” counter suggested Metunga.

  “There’s a thought,” said Jane.

  Within a minute, the bays swarmed with small droids, who rapidly built a support structure for each ship, including a staircase for the pilot. Once clear of droids, the fighters once again cut their thrust, and vanished.

  The ship shuddered again, only not as badly. The screens shifted to show each bay, where all eleven Excaliburs seemed to be lying quite comfortably. One was still facing the other way to the rest.

  “What was the shudder?” I asked Jane.

  “Minor damage to the supports from the jagged ends of the landing struts.”

  “Oops,” said Mel, grinning.

  “Nothing which can’t be fixed,” said Jane.

  “How do we do repairs?” asked Gitte. “Or don’t we?”

  “Leave that to me,” said Long. “As a carrier, I need to direct any repair operations myself. This wasn’t expected, but I’ll figure out how we do it.”

  “Hang it on a chain from the ceiling,” muttered Woof.

  Long chuckled.

  “That might work.”

  The bays started swarming with repair droids.

  “What’s next, admiral?” I asked.

  “Do you want a twelfth for the squadron?”

  “Do we get a choice?”

  “This time, yes. You don’t use normal formations, so one ship missing isn’t going to upset anything important, like leave someone without a wingman. But there have been some requests to join your squadron if a place becomes available. And technically for now, you do have a place available.”

  “Who wants to join us?” asked Fina.