The New Threat 29 (Patreon)

Chapter 29

Subject: AI Omega

Species: Human-Created Artificial Intelligence

Description: No physical description available.

Ship: Multiple

Location: Multiple

The bolt of plasma from the tank had thankfully missed the cameras, so I was able to watch the clean up operation. The marines and undocs methodically picked apart the remaining thirty or so robots efficiently. I had expected more than one tank, but a quick check on the situation in orbit immediately explained the discrepancy.

The Omni Union fleet had been wiped out and the US carriers were now encircling earth, allowing their fighter pilots to assist in the counter-invasion. They were prioritizing enemy armor and encampments, and had struck the group that had attacked us about forty minutes prior. The fighters were unable to finish this group off because they were on their last bombs and had to return for resupply.

The rest of the United Systems battlegroup was cleaning up the mess that the OU had left. Mines, drones, and other debris were all being eliminated by A2 missiles. Deals had been made to lower the costs of these missiles, otherwise we would have to risk entire ships in cleanup efforts. Admiral Archibald was currently discussing what to do about the MPP debris with the other leadership in the fleet.

Some of the debris is already too far into Jupiter's gravity well for safe extraction. I used a scout ship's sensors to determine the mass and acceleration of the debris, and after running some quick math I determined that we would have a year and a half before things got urgent. Time to pull Archibald away for a moment.

***

Recipient: Admiral Archibald

I need to speak to you in your office. It's urgent.

-Omega

***

I sent the priority one, and Admiral Archibald looked away from the terminal that was hosting his call to read it. He scowled slightly as he read, then quickly excused himself from the meeting. The admiral stood from his seat and left the bridge of the Lacedaemon, entering his private office. When he sat back down, I activated my avatar.

"Greetings, Admiral," I said.

"Hello, Omega. I'm surprised that I didn't hear from you sooner. What is it?"

"We have a sensitive situation taking place on Earth."

"You mean aside from the Omni-Union invasion?"

"Correct. A member of the Directorate is planet-side, along with a MARSOC squad and several undocumented civilians. The marines and the undocs are currently protecting the Director."

"Undocs? Why would they protect the Director?" Archibald asked incredulously.

"Because I made them a promise, Admiral."

"Wait, stop. First of all, why are there civilians on Earth in the first place? We sounded a general evac. The only people that should be on planet are essential personnel that are under our supervision and care."

"The Earth Planetary Government doesn't allow undocumented civilians aboard shuttles that can reach space. The law comes from the Sol Counter-Piracy Act, and was used by authorities on Earth to deny undocs access to means of evacuation. Their messages indicate that they were hoping to thin the undoc's numbers."

"You knew about this?"

"Not until recently. I found out about the situation with the undocs after the evacuation had been completed. I could not convince Earth authorities to go back for the undocs even with blackmail, and I had planned on staging a supplemental evacuation with willing personnel after I got the Director to safety."

The admiral looked troubled by this revelation. The politics involved were enough to give anyone pause, but I doubt that is what's troubling him. More likely, he's worried about what might happen to his men if he continues this conversation. I'll protect them, of course, but he doesn't know that.

"Okay," Archibald said, steeling himself. "Tell me about this promise that you made."

"The initial goal of the undocs was to take the Director hostage as a bargaining chip to secure a means to leave the planet," I explained. "As we were attempting to exfil the Director, the undocs attacked the marines. The invasion of the Omni-Union interrupted hostilities, and I told them that if they keep the Director alive, I will get them off the planet."

"Which is why you're coming to me," Archibald said as he stood once again. "Getting them off of Earth is probably doable, but you know we can't get them out of the system until we eliminate the Omni-Union presence."

"I am very well aware of this, Admiral," I said as my avatar's head tracked his movement. "However, I believe that they will be safer aboard a ship. They have already suffered several casualties and deaths. If more of them die, they may turn on us."

The admiral stopped pacing and stared at my avatar. It's difficult to tell what he may be thinking, but I have confidence that he will aid me. All of my contact with him, as well as his personnel file, indicates that he is a good man with a strong moral compass. He stroked his chin for a few moments before sighing.

"Fine," he said. "But if we're doing this, we're doing it right. I'm going to have our scout ships find all of the remaining undocs in Sol, and we're going to evacuate them."

"Thank you, Admiral. I'll send the coordinates of the Director and the rest of my group to your terminal."

"Understood. What do you need?"

I explained the situation in detail to Admiral Archibald and made recommendations as I synced myself. All of my other projects were going well. The dreadnoughts were being produced on schedule, and negotiations with the aliens were proceeding smoothly. My other instances were running around putting out small fires and preventing big ones from forming.

Fleet repairs and refits are going well in other systems, but the ships in Sol are stuck here until the OU is completely eliminated. Thankfully, third fleet is on standby to reinforce if necessary. I took a moment to wonder if the Omni-Union had predicted our imminent attack and attacked Sol to occupy some of our forces.

If that's the case, they've misjudged when our attack will be ready to commence. Or perhaps they misjudged how difficult it will be for us to eradicate their infantry. Either way, it won't prevent our assault. Even if we have to use third fleet to reinforce Sol, the other fleets will accompany the dreadnoughts on the eradication campaign.

"That we can do," Archibald said as I finished my explanation.

"Thank you, Admiral. That will be all," I replied and deactivated my avatar.

My instance on Earth will remain there until evacuation commences, doing what it can to keep those people alive. My other instance in Sol will continue to command the orbital MACs. While they failed to completely prevent the invasions, they did manage to destroy quite a few OU ships. This, in turn, lessened the severity of the invasions.

I decided to check on the status of the counter-invasions. Communications between captains informed me of a plan to lure OU assets away from colonized portions of Mars and bombard them from orbit. Three captains were involved in this, and I spied on them as they formed their plan. Technically, their shots wouldn't land anywhere near any civilian structures. However, the only uncolonized area that is large enough to ensure no civilian structures are destroyed happens to be a nuclear waste disposal site.

Unfortunately, the captains were blissfully unaware of this fact. They saw a large, open area and a quick way to eliminate a lot of robots without Marines getting killed. I debated letting them continue with their plan. There's a chance that their MACs won't penetrate to the caverns that the radioactive materials are stored in, after all. Getting the OU off of Mars would also allow them to redeploy their troops to Luna or Earth, which would expedite the removal of the OU from those colonies as well.

However, there's also a chance that the MACs may cause a rupture, allowing the fissile material that is stored to escape into the limited atmosphere. The spread of that material would contaminate many residential and industrial modules, rendering them unusable for the foreseeable future. It would take at least a decade to clean them to the point of habitability again.

One of the captains sent a message with orders to the Marine Command on Mars. I intercepted this message, verified that it was telling the Marines to proceed with the plan, and decided to confront the captains. I sent them a ping notifying them that their message had not been delivered, and brought the three of them onto a call.

"Orbital Bombardment is prohibited," I said.

"Yes, Omega, we know," Captain Tlorvan said, his mandibles clicking in annoyance. "But since that order is to limit the damage to infrastructure, shouldn't a bombardment that won't damage infrastructure be okay?"

One of the reasons that orders aren't typically explained to soldiers when they're given is because of this exact situation. When they understand the why, they come under the belief that they know better than their commanders. In some cases, they're correct. In this case, though...

"Certainly," My avatar's skull grinned on their screens.

"Then what's the problem?" Captain Vorheel asked, tilting his beak upwards defiantly.

Instead of verbally explaining their fuck-up, I switched their tac-maps to a detailed topological view. They had all been focusing on the empty site, so they all immediately noticed the big red square with the words "Nuclear Waste Disposal Site" blinking within it.

"Oh, shit," Captain Mansfield swore.

"The problem is that bombarding this area will damage civilian infrastructure," I explained. "As a matter of fact, it would render said infrastructure uninhabitable for much longer than simply destroying the infrastructure would."

"Oof," Tlorvan said.

"Oof, indeed. If you believe the orders you have been given are mistaken or are in need of updating, in the future I expect you to run it up the chain," I explained. "I do not fault you for taking the initiative, but let's make sure the stakes are somewhat smaller the next time you do so."

"Yes, sir," the three captains replied.

I nodded solemnly and ended the call. A little thrill of happiness tickled my code. "Sir", they had called me. As captains, they weren't fully aware of my role within the United Systems, but they had still called me sir. Is it because I corrected them? Or perhaps they just respect me?

Either way, I like it.