WoWS2 Chpt 1

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==Weapons of War Saga: The Director-General and her KnightsChapter 1==
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Conference room 3, SLDF High Command
Procurement Office, Unity City Complex
Terra, Sol Star System 
Terran Hegemony
2nd June, 2712
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10:05 Unity City Time
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Admiral Victor Langstrom’s perspective
Admiral Langstrom was staring at his coffee. These meetings had become quite tedious. He was glad he was coming up to mandatory retirement and would be done with this soon.
“Look we get it. The M5s are working as advertised in the War Games we put them through. I just think we could be getting more out of our investment.” Talia Woletz was one of Murakami’s disciples.
Victor despised them. They had a nasty habit of insisting that the Drones be treated the same as soldiers.
“As long as they are programmed to preserve the Star League.” Dallas Cruz from Blee Nose Clipper Ships was happy to add his support if it meant the company he represented would get even a piece of the lucrative contracts.
It was all but a given that they would. He was also a disciple of the so called Whalesong philosophy which believed in treating M5s more like coordinated Orca hunting packs. Victor could appreciate that philosophy. It was how the M5s were best used after all.
“Yes. Contingencies must be made. It is always during the so called good times that civilizations become complacent. We should equip some of the M5s so that they can serve as disaster relief. After all if the SLN is defeated and we must rely on the M5s for our defense it would seem unwise to send out helpless Jumpships to help our citizens recover from the devastation of combat or natural disaster until the fleets are recovered.” Xan Gyuong spoke up.
Victor could also tolerate this man. He was loyal to the Cameron dynasty above all else.
“We also should not hold still either. An enemy able to defeat the Star League Navy and still confident to push on Terra is going to be quite powerful.” Mumar Aram added.
He was not vocal about it but this man was a nihilist. There was no doubt he’d insist on some sort of scorched Earth contingency at some point.
“Fine. If we’re going to increase the mission scope of the M5 project it seems a new hull may be in order.” Victor groaned.
“Well we can shave some weight off the existing design by using a smaller, more precision self destruct system.” Dallas chimed in.
It was an obvious ploy with them producing the Lola II frames already and thus keeping the contract they had for that going.
But that suited Victor fine. It was a solid design but with some refinement it could be even better.
He knew though before this was over that each of them would use the opportunity to sneak in their own special tweaks to a small production run. It had happened before. It will happen again. He didn’t care as long as the M5s did their job.
Plus this way if the AI apocalypse did come about as some feared then this way there might actually be some AIs that would side with humanity against their brethren.
Admiral Victor Langstrom’s private office
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Admiral Victor Langstrom’s private office
Unity City, Terra
12th January, 2713
09:00 Unity City Time
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The plans for the M5.1 were finally before him as were the items they had agreed upon would be put in the ‘doomsday’ package.
Victor had to admit he liked the refinements despite the overall loss of firepower. It would be able to use what it had more efficiently.
He had slipped in his own touch of an enhanced electronics and communication package.
As much human knowledge as could be computerized then shoved into the core, human like remotes to help calm panicked citizens, artificial wombs, increased fabrication capabilities on the drones, and top of the line automated surgery drones as well.
This revised M5 was nearly perfect. It had a pleasing blend of increased capability but not so much it could operate indefinitely without human masters. Improved self defense and armor protection so that they would not need as much replacing due to combat losses but the increased maintenance would keep Blue Nose Clipper Ships happy.
It would be trivial to push this past the people who were supposed to watch over him for corruption. The Star League had just become too much of a Bureaucratic juggernaut to catch something like this.
As alarming as this new version might be to some people by the time anyone noticed it would be a drop in the bucket, lost in the digital filing cabinet hell that the Star League had become. That was how he was sure that the various members of the committee he had to deal with and their predecessors had slipped in their own special revisions that were certainly out in the fleet.
Ironically, it would take advanced AIs to provide enough oversight to have caught how much corruption and personal playgrounding had taken place in the M5 program already.
“Sir we have a problem.” His Yoeman Janice Randolph broke him from his revelry.
“What is it, Yoeman?” Victor kept a firm but fair tone to his voice despite his annoyance.
“There has been an issue with a subcontractor on the M5 program, Sir. Black Knight Electronics had an entire batch of processors and memory banks go out that didn’t meet proper specs.” The young Yoeman braced herself for more backlash.
“Shit. Okay first priority is to identify which vessels are impacted. Second is to get Black Knight properly motivated to get us the proper replacement parts.” Victor knew it wasn’t his Yoeman’s fault so he didn’t snap at her too much. At least he hoped so.
“We already know and we would have to completely rebuild spaces of some vessels to properly fix the issue sir. Something completely not in the budget nor do we have the docks available for the needed overhauls at current. Technical section thinks they have an acceptable workaround with the existing hardware but it’ll take cutting some corners.” Yeoman Randolph kept at attention.
“Okay. Tell them they have my permission to take it from some of the doomsday protocols first and foremost but try and keep as much of it intact as possible.” Victor sighed.
“Yes, sir.” Yeoman Janice saluted then departed his office.
That they had caught this error and identified which ships it impacted was nothing short of a miracle. But then as he started going through the reports trying to back trace just how much of this would blow back on him he felt reassured that his belief to actually keep something secret in the SLDF wasn’t to classify it. It was to bury it in the open with all the millions of other reports, memos, studies, and other sundry electronic documents that were generated in the millions per day by this branch of the High Command office alone.
If the Terran Hegemony and Star League did collapse so many wonders and technologies currently taken for granted would be lost not because of some new age of techno barbarism as some feared but because no one would even know how to find them.
And here it was a glorious morning until just a moment ago…
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A private area away from the Royal Ballroom
Unity City, Terra
25th December, 2750
20:32 Unity City time
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Helena Cameron’s perspective
Helena had grown bored with the formal gala and decided an impromptu game of hide and seek with Elizabeth would be more fun. But now she was wondering if she had found too good of a hiding spot or if Elizabeth was happy to ditch her for one of the sons of the visiting dignitaries.
Helena heard footsteps approaching so she carefully peaked through the opening in the small cabinet she had found to hide in.
She didn’t know what was normally stored in here but it was musty.
“Thank you for indulging me, Duchess Lestrade. I do hate debating certain areas of politics around so many ears.” Aleksandr Kerensky was walking with Duchess Joan Lestrade.
Kerensky often dodged these events but this time he was here.
“Not at all General Kerensky. Now what was that you were saying about the wonders of Star League technology?” Joan Lestrade was an aging woman.
Helena was somewhat used to that. So many people she knew at her social level were users of the life extension treatments common in the Hegemony. But the visitors from the Member states did not.
Her father said something about them not being ready for such a radical shift in their societies.
“It is quite simple. Look around you. Wealth, materialism, and even sloth are worshiped here. All because humans are not meant to live so long. It is a travesty. What is worse is the member states covet it all. Oh yes to the naked eye it is all pleasing but like certain fruits the rotten core cannot be found until you bite into them.” Aleksander seemed entirely too full of himself.
“So I take it that like myself you do not make use of the treatments?” Joan prodded.
“No. I suspect my parents did, but I intend to live a natural, normal human life. One that I can be proud of. Some members of the Cameron line thought this way too and never took the extension treatments. This is why I can serve them. I can be confident they will not become undue tyrants by becoming too disjointed from those they rule. After all not everyone can get these treatments, even here on Terra.” Aleksander smiled.
“Why not ask your parents?” Joan prodded.
“I must admit I have become a bit estranged from them since achieving my current post. We still talk now and again. The mandatory awkward holiday or birthday calls. But truly important matters we do not discuss. Still I know they care about me and are proud of me and I feel the same of them but I am a creature of the military and duty. While they understand this having served themselves it makes truly important conversations difficult. I keep promising myself I will make the time but I never do.” Aleksander sighed.
“You should. Especially since you wish to enjoy life. For I tend to agree. Life is so much more precious when you know it is limited. But we shall keep these views between us. Not all in the court would be happy with such views.” Joan smiled.
“Yes. We should get back before nasty rumors start about us having an affair with us having disappeared somewhere private together.” Aleksander smiled as he took Joan’s arm in his and walked them back to the gala.
“I knew I didn’t like him.” Helena whispered to herself.
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