A.I. Destiny 6 Leader Jane Read online

  Four hours later, she opened a channel to the valderian shipyard.

  "This is Vice Admiral Repulse of the Kingdom of Hunter's Run space fleet. You recently sent a fleet to destroy one of our fleets, and ground troops to destroy one of our civilian expeditions. This was an act of war, regardless of the fact you were acting as mercenaries for the Brotherhood. Your fleet was destroyed. Your continued offensive behavior in this sector demonstrates your attitude, and on instructions from the sector eight council, the Kingdom has been charged with removing your ability to threaten anyone in this sector again."

  She paused for effect.

  "You have thirty minutes to evacuate your shipyard. As soon as my fleet arrives, it will be destroyed. Any ship firing on us will be destroyed. Any station or ground position firing on us will be destroyed. You have twenty nine minutes. Use them well."

  She closed the channel.

  Ten minutes later it was obvious the valderians were not taking her seriously. She sighed, and opened another channel.

  "What part of evacuate the shipyard did you not understand?"

  "We don’t take orders from anyone," said a valderian face on the screen.

  "You took orders from Brotherhood."

  "Some did, yes. And they have paid for their stupidity."

  "Well don’t be stupid now. When I leave your system, you will not have a shipyard, or anything which fires on my ships. And while you think you've rebuilt your fleet enough to take mine on, you really haven’t."

  "You will not be leaving our system."

  Repulse sighed again.

  "Fine. Have it your own way. Do you make a distinction between military and civilians?"

  "No. All fight. It is our strength."

  "And also your arrogance. If you fight me, you will all die."

  "Who's being arrogant now?"

  "I've given you fair warning. You choose how this goes down."

  The face was laughing. Repulse gave it her serious look, and closed the channel.

  She formed her fleet up into a three layer wall formation, with the Battleships in the center of each line, herself in the middle. Each ship received targeting data, and turrets moved in preparation.

  The fleet swept into orbit of the only habitable planet in the system. The shipyard was on the other side. Missiles launched from the ground. Mosquitos answered them, heading down into the atmosphere to meet them. More missiles launched from the station half way around the planet from them, and these too were met with Mosquitos. Explosions lit up the skies around the planet, and in space in front of them. The fleet held its course.

  The ground launchers reloaded, and launched again. More Mosquitos launched to counter them, and this time capital ship missiles followed them, aimed at each launcher site. These were followed by smaller missiles targeted very specifically at individual buildings.

  The station came into range, now launching missiles as fast as it could. Repulse continued to fire Mosquitos at each one, while weighing her options. She sighed again.

  Repulse fired all her main turrets at the station, and the fleet continued on course as if it wasn’t there. Shortly after, it wasn’t there. Debris began to drop into the atmosphere, the smaller chunks burning up, while the larger ones made it through, going on to smash into the ground, and anything built on it.

  Lined up in front of the shipyard was every last armed ship the valderians had left, excluding those desperately trying to catch up from the jump point. Repulse amended firing orders on the basis war had been declared from the ground, and as soon as they were in range, the slaughter began.

  The fleet didn’t slow down. They simply aimed directly through the small armada of ships, which vanished into debris and dust, which was the only thing to affect their shields as they passed through, and within minutes, the valderian armada was gone, and shortly after, so too was the shipyard.

  A few missiles were continuing to come up from the surface, so Repulse responded with more capital ship missiles to take out the remaining launch sites.

  After a fast orbit to make sure no offensive potential remained, Repulse took her fleet back towards the single jump point out.

  The final scan of the planet before she left, was included in the battle feed data, and sent along to Jane.

  Several hours later, the remaining valderian ships vanished into dust, after refusing to surrender.

  The valderians were not going to be bothering anyone for a good long time now.

  Repulse spent a few milliseconds pondering what she'd just done, and was glad she didn’t have the normal range of human emotions.

  Twelve

  Jane received the news from Valderia, and for a moment wondered if she'd gone too far. The council members, and guests, went silent as she stood there with her head cocked to one side, the sure sign of listening to a message.

  Jane sighed heavily, and turned to the sector eight representatives.

  "The valderians will not be any threat to anyone for a good long time. I'm sorry to say they chose to fight. Their remaining fleet has been destroyed, as was their shipyard and orbital station. Hundreds of missile launcher sites on the ground were destroyed as well."

  "We are relieved to hear this," said the cat. "Were there many civilian casualties?"

  "I have no information on casualties, but I assume they were high. The valderian who refused to evacuate the shipyard a half hour before the battle told my fleet commander there were no civilians, that all would fight. Sensors showed no attempt to move any of the population into safe places. No attempt was made to evacuate anyone from the shipyard, or the orbital station. Nor were any escape pods launched during the battle."

  "We feared as much," said the lemur. "They have always resisted any form of mediation. Do you know how extensive the damage to the planet was?"

  "Unfortunately yes. You may have to send them aid."

  "That bad?" asked the fuzzball.

  "Worse. They fired nukes at my ships, and all of them were destroyed within the atmosphere, before my fleet commander had any idea they even had nukes. Worse still, nukes about to be launched, were destroyed on the ground. We estimate about a hundred of them detonated."

  The silence in the chamber became absolute. Jane went on.

  "As far as the Admiral in charge could tell, the only damage done on the ground was to launcher sites and the immediate areas around them, and buildings with known Brotherhood in them. None of the nukes did any groundside damage to cities at all, being far enough away from them, but several uninhabited forest areas are now raging infernos."

  "And?" said the mushroom.

  "And the planet will possibly go into a nuclear winter, and almost certainly suffer from ozone depletion. Which one outweighs the other remains to be seen. Which is why I said they may need aid. They may enter a major ice age, and within months, they won't be able to grow enough food to feed their people."

  "We'll send an envoy," said the cat. "Assuming you agree to send some protection for the envoy."

  "That'll be no problem. I can allocate freighters for food drops as well, should you ask for them."

  "We'll discuss this in council as soon as we get back," said the lemur.

  She stood, and looked around the chamber.

  "I can see the shock you all feel at what has happened. I share it, and also feel yours as well. But this has been coming for a very long time. The only reason the valderians haven’t been brought down before now, was there was no-one powerful enough to take them on and win. Sector eight will deal with the consequences, and accept any help the other sectors care to offer. While I suspect the valderians will refuse to talk to anyone, I also suspect when their food runs out, they will eat what we drop for them."

  "We have plans," added the cat. "It has long been assumed it was only a matter of time before the valderians reduced an enemy planet to ruins, and the sector has long been prepared to support any such planet. That it is the valderians is a form of poetic justice, but we will support them until they ca
n support themselves again."

  The cat looked at Jane.

  "We would request you leave some forces outside their system. Both for the short term to prevent retaliation by other species, now the valderians are vulnerable, and in the longer term as a blockade to keep the valderians locked in their system for as long as possible."

  "I have given orders to that effect," said Jane. "The fleet will be small, but powerful, and I'm leaving a one star Admiral on site, in case someone with rank is needed to talk someone out of being stupid. As far as long term is concerned, we can negotiate this at your convenience."

  The lemur nodded and sat. Jane looked at the cat.

  "In other news, the cat homeworld co-operated with our forces there to remove several hundred Brotherhood, and captured a Rapture making facility. There were no casualties other than Brotherhood, and the cats reported the successful usage of some of our security tech, which had been modified specifically for them. Some of these will become available soon to other species who have treaties directly with the Kingdom."

  The cat smiled, and nodded to her.

  Jane went on to list and show feeds from a dozen other planets where raids on Brotherhood had been carried out successfully. Some of them had casualties to police and security personnel, but the targets had all been neutralized.

  While outlining the raids she knew about, she spent a lot of time in AI mode. Repulse's report had shocked her to the core. It had never occurred to her the valderians would launch nukes. The battle had progressed so fast, the nukes hadn't even been detected. Had they been, they could have been avoided, and allowed to fly off into deep space, where they could have been destroyed safely. Instead, a planet was now to be plunged into a dark age. This had never been part of the plan. But as she reminded herself, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

  Intelligence was a double edged sword. With a lot less, comnavsats would have been sent down into low orbit, confirming targets, and seeing what was launched. With the intelligence the Talisman had provided, the comnavsats hadn't been launched, and the nukes had been missed.

  In between her words to the council, she did releases for the dead, and gave orders for an immediate relief fleet to go to Valderia.

  It didn’t show on her face, but she felt sickened, and was seriously wondering now if she was doing the right thing.

  Thirteen

  "Attention Perdita station," said Warspite, into an open channel, "and all docked ships. Any ship attempting to leave will be destroyed. This is your only warning. We are here to apprehend those who destroyed Byways station. You know who is responsible. Surrender immediately, or suffer the consequences."

  A cruiser sized ship immediately undocked, and tried to run.

  "Wrong choice," added Warspite.

  He allowed the ship to clear the station, and sent a salvo of capital ship missiles after it. Within a minute, debris was bouncing off the station's hull.

  "Anyone else?" boomed Warspite.

  No-one answered. But more than a dozen ships suddenly dropped their power generation dramatically, showing they'd stopped engines.

  "We surrender," said a voice, which Warspite identified as coming from station command.

  "Three Cruisers will be docking shortly. You will allow them to dock. Any resistance will be met with deadly force. All ships will have their airlocks open, and will allow parties on board for inspection."

  He paused, waiting for the response. When it didn’t come, he smiled.

  "Resistance is futile!" he added, and the smile became a grin.

  Still no response came, so he sent the go order to the three Assault Cruisers.

  As each one docked, a platoon of combat suits ran down the ramps, and into the station towards specific targets. They were followed by platoon after platoon of combat droids, with last off being a company of human troops in belt suits.

  While he monitored the troops taking over station command, station security offices, and the storming of individual areas with known Brotherhood, Warspite hacked into their computer system.

  He was looking for who actually owned the station. Perdita didn’t have a planet or moon based population, even though it could support one. So there was no system government to enforce ownership. Bhatet had owned it originally, but he was long gone now. He found no ownership at all. The command staff had simply continued running the station as it had been, with very little change in its rules since Bhatet's death.

  He kept digging, and found the orders to destroy Byways station. As Jane had said, the ships responsible were docked here, although down one now, with the destruction of the ship which tried to run. He confirmed the secondary orders to take these ships by force. The German Brigadier General in command of the assault force acknowledged them.

  Technically they were the same rank, but Warspite had the overall command. With the station taken, the General would take command of it, and his troops were remaining to defend it if necessary, along with a small fleet of ships. Warspite was here for the capture, but had other tasks to do once it was apparent he wasn’t needed.

  Jane had changed her mind. Originally, the station was going to be destroyed, and all Warspite had to do was see to it being evacuated, the destruction of the ships which destroyed Byways station, the elimination of any Brotherhood found, and turn the station into dust.

  Warspite would have preferred this plan. He'd been here when Byways had been destroyed, and been unable to do anything to help. He was more than annoyed Repulse had been given the Valderia mission, given the number of times he'd fought them now.

  What had changed Jane's mind was sector nine effectively turning a blind eye to what she did in their sector. They'd been completely ineffectual at controlling piracy, and Perdita station was a known pirate base. Jane had decided to take it, claim the system, and use it as a sector nine base.

  And the one thing she had a lot of were troops not yet trained as space marines, and low level flag officers with mainly station running experience, who were not as useful as marine Colonels, of which she had too few. So she'd sent the three worst companies of German troops, along with the second most competent of the station Brigadiers. The three majors reported to the Brigadier. The troops were well trained, would make a good garrison, but were not useful as marines. Every station had some standard troops now, but the one thing Jane didn’t need was an army doing nothing. The opportunity to give them something useful to do was welcome.

  Once things settled down, Warspite cloned himself to the station. He had another clone acting as Fleet Admiral on the flagship remaining behind. He'd have to pretend to be someone else, but he was getting better at it all the time.

  Warspite waited out the rest of the day, until he was satisfied the station had been completely taken, all the Brotherhood were dead, the ships which destroyed Byways station had been impounded, and their non-Brotherhood crews locked in the security cells.

  When he finally did leave, troops were still in the process of boarding ships, and arresting crews with outstanding warrants across the four sectors. He took the Assault Cruisers with him, along with that part of the fleet not remaining as system defense.

  When the feed came in from Valderia, Warspite smiled ironically. Repulse had fucked up, and done what he'd have probably done intentionally. He knew the valderians had nukes, and he'd have been watching for them to be fired. Had he been there, the planet might have been in an even worse state.

  He stopped this line of thought. It was unworthy of him, and if Jane knew he thought this way, he'd be driving a garbage scow somewhere boring. He raised a hand, and swiped a finger downwards. One for Repulse, and her being there had in a way stopped him from doing much more. While he might have felt more satisfied in the short term, in the long term destroying Valderia would have put him on a dark path he didn’t want to travel.

  He wondered how Jane had known this.

  Fourteen

  Jane finished outlining the last of the raids across several hundred worlds by loca
l forces. The death toll was mounting rapidly, with thousands of Brotherhood now dead, and almost the same number of police and security forces, as they assaulted Brotherhood held strongholds with only local weapons and protection.

  In a dozen cases, the local forces had lost, and their military forces had gone in instead, levelling whole buildings, and in one case a whole civilian block, to take out the occupants of a single floor. Civilian casualty numbers were rising as well. In five cases, the local forces belatedly called down fire from a Kingdom ship in orbit.

  Jane's fleets were spread thin across four sectors. She had lone Pocket Battleships doing speed runs across a dozen systems, coordinating local forces as they did single orbits, sometimes sending down missiles, before continuing on to the next system.

  The same ships, as well as small fleets of Cruisers and Destroyers, were targeting a long list of ships known to have a Brotherhood presence on board, as well as interdicting any ship with outstanding warrants. Those which were not destroyed, were taken over by an AI, the crews incarcerated on their own ships by combat droids, and the ships pointed towards the Perdita system. Jane at last turned to the sector nine representatives.

  "Bhatet's station in the Perdita system has been taken. Only a single ship was destroyed doing it, and the station surrendered shortly after it was boarded. No evidence of any current ownership was found, and since its previous owner is dead, I've claimed the station, and put a garrison on board." The dog nodded. "If you have no objection, I will also claim the uninhabited system, and intend to use the planet as a penal colony for known pirates. The system will be used as a staging point for Kingdom space forces, and with your cooperation, we'll turn the Badlands into good lands."

  "Your claim is registered," said the mushroom from sector nine. "It should be only a formality in council."

  "Will you be requesting a seat on the sector nine council?" asked the dog.