Chapter 8

Lots of work to be done, in the aftermath of a battle.

Prisoners to take control of, damage to assess, and the wounded to care for.

Battle (AAR’s) after action reports are a part of this too. Mine was almost not seen in all of this turmoil, notice, I said almost.

My arms and most of my upper body were inside one of the fighter engines trying to repair the exhaust manifold when one of the captains aides came looking for me.

“Lieutenant, your presence is requested in conference room 10.”

“OK, let me get changed and...”

“The captain said now, go as you are.”

Oh, boy here it comes.

Work coveralls covered in propulsion fluid and grease, I made my way to the conference room. It was a full house, standing room only.

With a pensive look on my face, I saluted and came to attention when Captain Michaels saw me come in.

She spoke to me. “Have a seat lieutenant,” eying my clothing “better yet, remain standing. Do you have any idea why you are here today?”

“Would it involve my after action report, Captain?”

Calmly the captain answered me. “Yes, your report. We almost missed it, it was lumped in with the other pilot’s reports. I had assumed that when the alert sounded your ship had returned to the hanger bay. Imagine my surprise to learn that an unarmed shuttle destroyed a fighter using an escape pod as a cannon. In watching the record of your flight, I understand why you did it. What you did was amazing. The problem that we, the command staff has is, HOW did you do it? You are, of course, an engineer. The tractor beam adjustment should have been extremely easy for you. The autopilot, however, does not have an evade and elude configuration. None of the shuttles do. Explain yourself please.”

The whole room full of officers seemed to be peering at me. It made be extremely nervous.

“Is the Captain familiar with my previous record, sir?”

Looking down at her tablet the Captain replied: “I have the record here, Admiral Kane sent it along.”

“Did you read the part about the station that I built?”

Cocking her head, the captain said, “Yes, that was why she sent you to us.”

Bracing myself, I continued. “In the wreckage of one of the frigates was a prototype AI named Wilson.”

“What! Hold on, Lieutenant! Do you mean to tell me that there is a rogue AI loose on MY SHIP!”

“No SIR! Not your ship. He has embedded himself into my link and well, I guess, he could be on your ship. But I’m pretty sure he’s here in my head.” I pointed at my head.

“Lieutenant, you told the Admiral that this AI stayed behind and was running Firefly station. That is what this report says.” She gestured to the screen in front of her.

“Oh, he did, sir. He left a clone of himself there and tagged along with me. You have to remember, at the time I was not under anyone’s orders. I was considered a P.O.W.” I paused. “He saved my life, sir. It was him that sent all of those incriminating records to the Senate and to the ESS. As far as I can tell, he has been keeping out of trouble so far on your ship. I will say that if you attempt to purge him, he might cause a great deal of trouble.”

“So you are saying that we are stuck with him? Is that it Lieutenant?”

“I think so, Captain. He can be pretty annoying sometimes, but he is very helpful. It was him who piloted the ship so I could take care of using the pods as a weapon.”

“Can you explain some more? He does not sound like any of the AI’s that we use today.”

I looked at the command team, they were all listening to me. “From what he has said, he was THE prototype. The first autonomous AI in the PPL. It was a test, to see if he and those like him could be used for warships. He says that his personality matrix is based on a 20th-century vid-star. He likes to tell strange jokes. He also says a lot of very unusual things like quotes or sayings. From studying the records that I could find with my access, his creators never made any more like him. They moved on to less autonomous, more Wilson says, boring AI’s. He’s unique, sir.”

Glancing at the security chief, the Captain asked, “Have any of your techs noticed him in the system?”

“We didn’t know to look. The security AI’s are supposed to alert us to intrusions like this. I will put some extra people on it.”

The Captain turned his gaze back to me. “Be advised, Lieutenant, I will be reporting this higher up the chain. You may have to deal with fleet HQ, again.”

“Yes, sir, I understand sir.”

“Now you can go back to your engine. Oh, and Lee? Just so you know. Those pirates were bounty hunters. The bounty on you is now over $100 million credits, watch your back please.”

As I left the room, I overheard the security chief speaking. “Captain? Why did you allow her to keep that AI?”

Pensive, the Captain looked at his head of security. “If that AI could pilot a shuttle, what about a cruiser? Or all our weapon systems? Environmental? Life support? She can keep him.”

White-faced, the security chief nodded

At least Wilson was given a reprieve, and his secret was out in the open. Two days after my meeting with the captain, new orders came in for me from Fleet HQ. It was too dangerous for me out here, my orders were changed, they were sending me to the Capital Planet.