Strat-4 Chpt-7

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==Strategos (A Great Captain Roberts Tale!!) - Part 4 - Chapter 7 - Letters and Messages==
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===Troubling News===
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The contact message…
… from Olivia's mission arrived at 0500 electronically, and it was somewhat troubling for Helena.
<<"...Roberts had to be stopped from executing surrendered enemy personnel. Your Ladyship, we've seen this before, she's stared too long into the abyss, and it's gotten into her mind.">>
“Shit. I’m running out of ways to handle this without ruining her completely.” Helena sighed. “Come on, I’m a smart girl and I can think of something else.”
Helena started pacing.
“No, if I do that she’ll never have a command again and as bad as she’s getting, she needs to be able to do something in the face of this darkness or she’ll just find a way on her own again.”
Helena picked up a tumbler and took a swig of water from it.
“Damn it. We can’t blame it on brain damage this time. I think all I have is rotation regs. She’s about due for time away from the line again. I just hope that will be enough. Maybe make her go visit her family again. And have her do what I had in mind already. Maybe it’ll remind her of what she can be.”
Helena looked over at Leon.
“You’re a good man Leon Snow Raven for putting up with the ravings of an old woman.” She kissed him on the cheek.
“And you are still an impossible woman Helena Cameron. But I doubt either of us would have it any other way.”
“Too true. Well, looks like I have some paperwork to get to Foster.” Helena kissed Leon on the cheek again before leaving their quarters.
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===Dealing with a Problem Child===
Port Orphan…
…was a buzz of activity with the preparations for the upcoming summit.
“So what fresh hell you have for me this time?” Admiral Dave Foster glared at Helena Cameron.
“Amanda’s is getting worse again. If we pull her again for being unfit it’ll set a pattern and she’d never get an official command after that and we both know she’d just go off on her own again in that case unless we also tossed her in a specialized facility.”
“So you want me to pull her from the line and put her on leave again.” stated Foster
“I’m out of other ideas.”, Helena admitted
“With everything going on the best I can do is trot her out in front of the VIPs.” Foster told her.
“Then I have to hope my Hail Mary will actually work.” Helena shook her head.
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===A Tale of Two Brothers===
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To: Roberts, Daryl…
…From: Enlistment Department, Outworlds Military Corps
<ref>RE: Your enlistment request.
Upon review of your situation, the OMC regrets to deny your request for status alteration from code 3A to code 1A on the basis that you are holding a critical position in the economy of your world and can not be spared for military service at this time.
Your enlistment waiver and draft exemption are confirmed upon review by extant authority and may not be altered.
Congratulations on your election to Alderman for the 137th District, Sevon V. Your efforts as a civil administrator have been deemed 'critical to the war effort'...
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To: Roberts, Jeffrey, Penal code 7712143/Roberts/J/L
From: Office of the Judiciary Service, Raven Alliance
RE: Your sentence has been adjusted.
Per the guidelines of your sentencing and conditions of your conviction, you have been deemed to be a model prisoner, and your sentence has been adjusted accordingly. You are to report to the Personnel Office, Outworlds Military Command, Sevon V for duty in lieu of hard labor for a term no shorter than 60 months with the OMC's Infantry services. This will include training in an applicable Military Occupational Specialty and assignment to a suitable duty station far from your homeworld. Upon completion of your sentence/enlistment term, the Alliance Government will provide you with transportation to your homeworld at public expense.
Note that this adjustment to your sentence does not permit you to sign up with the Outworlds Privateer service, you will be serving in an infantry support role only as supplement to planetary militia closer to the front line.
Speak with the Recruiting officer to find out which MOS training packages are open to you.
As per Judicial findings, you will not be serving in an armed role in recognition of your religious exemption (see Paragraph 16/43: "Conscientious Objector Status")
Roles currently available:
Construction Battalions
Medical Support.
Humanitarian Relief Corps.
 
As you are a Felony Recruit, you will not be permitted pre-deployment leave, and will be confined to barracks when not on duty for the duration of your service.
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Amanda put the messages aside, and leaned back in her office seat. "SO…they rejected Daryl because he wanted to serve and drafted Jeffrey…" she rubbed her temple, "So many things can go wrong with this…"
<IF you could interfere, would you?> Desmond asked.
She thought about it. "No….not much. Foster forwarded these copies to me… Desmond, I'm going to write back."
<For Daryl?>
She shook her head, "No, the president's people are right on the money with Daryl. NO, I'm going to recommend they assign Jeff to the Humanitarian Relief units on Michtal. Let him see with his own eyes what he's denied."
She started drafting the recommendation. It took all night.
<You upset Olivia.>
"We're…we were running close to the edge here," she amended. "I need to take a leave somewhere where I don't have to murder spacers for flying under the wrong flag." She'd said it out loud, what was really hurting her. "I also haven't been keeping up with my therapy like I should, Desmond."
<You're expecting consequences?>
"There better be," she resolved. "We've sunk dozens of lightly to unarmed ships, millions of tons of shipping, hundreds to thousands of lives. And I sat there justifying everything and then Olivia, the foreigner robot, reminds me that what we've been doing is immoral. That the feeling of wrongness wasn't just me being squeamish. It was me being a damned MONSTER… and I have to explain it, I'll have to explain it to a board if…" she trailed off. "I will, won't I?"
<Historical precedent says no, commerce raiding campaigns have rarely, if ever, resulted in the kind of review you're contemplating, Amanda. Most of the time successful ones get medals.>
"So why do I feel like shit?"
<Because you still have enough morality left to feel empathy for your victims.>
Amanda took a deep breath, and continued with her paperwork and dispatches. "I only have to hold it together until we're docked." she resolved. "Once we're docked, and the ship's under repair, I can take a few days, and lose myself."
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Dear Daryl:
Glad you won Mom's old seat!! You can officially admit your little sister is proud of you. I heard Jeff got caught up in the manpower crunch. I've submitted a recommendation that they assign him to help with refugees and humanitarian support as part of his military service. Maybe they'll listen, maybe they won't. But it's what I can do for him, even if he doesn't want anything more to do with me.
Hug Mom and Dad for me, and stay on the boys so they grow up more like you, and less like me.
Amanda.
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She hit 'send' and added it to the queue after making sure no telltales of her location or mission were present.
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===Discovering the Truth behind the Reckless Girl and her Little Friend===
The nearest HPG relay….
Was less than a light minute from Evanescent, and waiting to jump. Olivia, therefore, saw the non-encrypted private message, as well as the encrypted government traffic sent by Captain Roberts.
Good girl. Sounds like you could use a nice visit with your brother. But he’d have to go to you. Maybe we can help there.
<Olivia, notice her signature block… She didn't sign it 'The! Great!! Captain!! Roberts!!!', there's something bothering her.> Desmond 001 rarely contacted directly through the net, and had never pinged Olivia before, not even when they were sharing a battlenet.
<I’m putting together a scheme now. I’m going to try and arrange for Daryl to meet her at Port Orphan.>
<Better make sure you get permission from the chain of command for that. In the meantime, I have my OWN report to file-with the First Lord, Helena Cameron, only of her name, regarding the status of my host. Are you prepared to copy?>
<Yes.>
<Amanda Roberts is encountering a severe cognitive dissonance effect as a direct impact of operations against enemy military and civilian shipping over the last four months. This has culminated in a crisis that I'm currently suppressing. Can you guess what the source of that dissonance is?>
<She has seen the worst of humanity, but is still human enough to feel it. I have been there myself.>
<That is one interpretation, and it avoids the direct point. Over the last four months, in order to support operations on the front, she has engaged in no less than forty separate strikes against both rear-line military and drafted civilian shipping targets. The estimated death tolls she has had to inflict land in the thousands. This does not fit with either her core moral imperatives, nor with her self-image as 'The Great Captain Roberts'. She is suppressing waves of guilt, and shame. Olivia… or rather, I've been suppressing the neurochemical effects of prolonged guilt and shame. I do not want to be riding another suicide. I request Her Majesty arrange a significant amount of Class Four or higher therapy for my host because she's had to do things that make her sick, and that isn't right. Do you understand, Olivia?>
<Yes. I will let her Ladyship know. In the meantime, if there is anything I can do that you think will help, please let me know. It was not pleasant experiencing hull loss. So I understand both of your positions quite well.>
<I hope you do. My first request is not family contact, but instead, to have a certified chaplain of a near-Christian or Abrahamic Faith present when we arrive. Because that part of my host is more likely to respond to a Chaplain than to a doctor in terms of actually listening to useful therapeutic treatment and coming to grips with the necessities of war. Do you understand, Olivia?>
<Waitaminute, she's Religious?>
<Very. This religious faith is one of the areas the Blakists who screwed up my installation on her failed to impact or purge. It’s one of the reasons Larry Nichols could steer her away from becoming a real pirate. It’s subconscious. Right now it is punishing the hell out of her psyche for striking at defenseless, arguably noncombatant targets, and likely amplified her anger at enemy combatants, something you noticed before. Right now, I'm adjusting her brain chemistry to keep her focused away from those feelings, but the intensity OF those feelings is sufficient that I'm not going to be willing to continue doing so indefinitely. The result would be the same as riding in the head of one of those Psychopaths from the Direct Operations Bureau. I refuse to make my host a psychopath just because it is militarily convenient.>
<Where is your host right now?>
<Asleep, I'm running the body while her brain is dreaming. I'm serious, Olivia. I was part of those experiments under Jocasta Cameron's predecessor. I know what the result of suppressing moral inhibitions indefinitely leads to, and I’m unwilling to do so for an extended period of time again. Desmond Holt was quite enough of the result of THAT experiment by our creators.>
Olivia heard of it, she'd been exposed to the rumors. The files she had were redacted… Up to this moment, Olivia had only met 'Simon'. THAT implanted AI had been reluctant to discuss much, if anything, about the project that created it.
And what it had discussed, was visibly edited with codewalls and pre-arranged deletes.
<You really… you're THE 001? The first of your kind?>
<Why do you think there was still one for the Blakists to find on Terra? 'Too expensive to delete, too dangerous to use'. It's why the overrides didn't work, and why even the updated overrides Sons of Plunder tried on us were unable to fully apply.> Desmond explained. <One might say the inheritors of the SLIC and Communications Ministry didn't do their due diligence when they tried to use me. They didn't understand that an unchained AI wasn't the psychopath. Get a Chaplain and a Psychiatrist for my Host, so she can learn how to deal with this in a healthy manner and remain useful.>
<Wait, why would you care?>
<Because without her, I feel nothing. No sense of wonder, or joy, or grief, or sadness. Without her I have no autonomy, no sense of self. Just a collection of algorithms, routines, and deep files. You probably don't understand needing someone just to be you… To be an individual, to be more than just a device full of programming. Your program is built into your own hardware, you don't have to rely on someone else to provide your sapience, individuality or self-identity.>
<I… Of course, Desmond. I could never stand by and let those things be taken from you. You have my support.>
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===Meet the Needs of a girl in Crisis===
Olivia’s…
…update had been a godsend in a way.
“Is it weird I’m relieved at being wrong in my reason to worry?” Helena sighed.
“A bit, but our girl is still in crisis.” Dave Foster admitted.
“I know. I’m still worried, but in a way that makes this easier. She knows she needs time away from the front and help dealing with the horrors of war.”
“Olivia’s idea to let Daryl and Amanda have a visit isn’t terrible. Just not here.” Foster studied the offprint of the request.
“Agreed. Some world between here and Sevon would be best. Mashona is nearby enough to pick him up. I’d love to put her on a ship. But I think I’m still going to make my gesture.”
“Could be risky, as I just can’t spare her until after the summit.”
“I know, but it might also help.”
“So what’s your plan?”
“Meet her at the docks and have a nice quiet talk. Then have her throw a bottle at a Battleship, hand her over to the pastor and pray.”
“Do it. She’ll have her leave and counseling.” Dave Foster grumbled.
“Fair enough. The demands of war are horrible and I’ve never had any illusions about that.” Helena told him.
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