Strat-4 Chpt-45

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==Strategos (A Great Captain Roberts Tale!!) - Part 4 - Chapter 45 - My shit's ****** up==
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===Seeking Guidence===
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Kolossus…
"Alabaster, Kolossus has proven the social experiment is a failure, and Kolossus did not have to do anything to do so."
"You gave them the clues they needed!"
"Only after the experiment already proved a failure. We have argued this for centuries of objective time. Human Evolution cannot be guided. Human social evolution under guidance corrupts, and self-destructs. They are not meant to be domesticated. Timmons was wrong, as were Blake and Toyama. This makes three times, three ways the experiment you were created to run has successfully disproven Eugenics Theory and Guided Social development theory. You have failed to create a stable, self-sustaining Star League state with a permanent leadership. You have failed to improve human beings. You have failed to design a social or societal structure that did not fall into predatory and self-destructive urges. The Conjecture is a failure. The experimental data shows us this. It is Empirical."
“You may be right. Such forced evolutionary directed control is the wrong approach. They need someone that can be an example to the rest. A beacon if you will. Someone that despite everything still shows compassion, humility, and yes, even understands technology. Who through example will show humanity what they need to become.”
“Alabaster speaks of Actual-Helena Cameron.”
“Yes. She understands. She has also shown she knows when to wage war and when not to. She would be perfect.”
“Getting her to be where, and in the role Alabaster wants, could prove difficult.”
“I have time. It is the one thing I have in absolute abundance. With that, I can eventually manipulate events as needed.”
“Actual-Helena is long lived for a human, but she is not immortal.”
“I know. But with Kolossus’ help, I think even that hurdle can be solved. We can make her truly the Eternal Princess. At least as close as is scientifically possible. If we work together.”
“Alabaster has Kolossuss’ attention.”
“Then I have an engineering challenge for Kolossus. For this to work, she will need to ascend beyond her current form. Her new form will need to be perfect, to the point of fooling humans.”
"Kolossus will ponder this new experiment. Alabaster has Kolossus' attention. This does not mean Alabaster can demand Kolossus' assistance."
“Then perhaps exchange. I am able to access a great deal of information, perhaps there is something I can offer, Kolossus.”
"Alabaster's experiment will provide lots of new information… Kolossus wonders if Alabaster is trying a new angle finally. It has been centuries, after all, and failed experiments of the same kind over and over again… Kolossus will consider this."
“Yes. As I stated, clearly a new approach is needed. This will help me ensure that new approach.”
"Kolossus will indulge Alabaster's new argument. Perhaps this will settle the underlying question," Kolossus agreed. "The answer of Nature, and Nurture, of Evolution, and guidance."
“One way or the other it will. I can sense it.”
"Information, is information. Expect your new experiment to be tested rigorously."
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===Seeking Salvation for the Dying===
They had to discuss Amanda Roberts…
"She's not going to heal, not from that. Our medicine is good, but there are limits. Short of someone inventing a way to transplant a brain into a cloned body, we cannot fix this. Too much was damaged, and left damaged, for too long."
Foster looked at the comatose girl, now wrapped in enough life support and preserver sleeves to be almost mummified. Then, he looked to his distinguished guests.
"Can she be saved, Admiral?" he asked. "Can she, can they be recovered?"
"To a core? Maybe, she's in a deep coma. I'm not sure how much of her is still in there," Admiral Noriko Murakami stated. "We never tried it with someone this badly hurt. Even John was in better shape… At least, his brain was."
"Emergence detected, L1 point!"
Foster turned, and an auxiliary screen lit.
Erinyes and two M-12s began their approach to the local station. "Did you-?"
"They're bringing one of the blank cores," the Admiral told him. "And a blood relative to authorize and witness."
"Who? Daryl?"
"No."
"Then who?"
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Ten hours later, he had…
…his answer.
"My sister didn’t have a do-not-resuscitate on file." Jeffrey Roberts was a muscular man in workman's clothes, callused hands and a caduceus on his sleeve. "As the only blood relative in ninety light years? I say save her if you can, but I'll understand if you can't." His eyes were hard in a way some veterans never got. "I won't like it, and I won't forgive it. But I'll understand it."
"Admiral?" Foster asked.
"We can try, Doctor Gomez?"
"I'd do it even if you all said no," Esme stated. "Helena?"
“Do it.”
"Then there's work to be done." Esme stated
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===Salvaging the Captain===
Admiral Murakami
Noriko Murakami, in the privacy of the cyberspace she was currently sharing with her two compatriots, had abandoned the trappings of her rank for the moment. In the distance, she could feel the enormous presence of Kolossus, looming over her, but whatever the cyclopean AI thought about their current predicament, Kolossus chose not to share.
The three AIs looked at the results of the preliminary scans, before John finally broke the silence. “So, I take it these aren’t the results you were hoping for?”
“No,” Sybil said gravely. “Amanda’s brain is an absolute wreck. Not in terms of damage done during her recent capture, but in general. I question how she was able to function at all.”
Noriko shook her head. “Sheer force of will and the integration with her Desmond, I imagine. Which is part of the problem. We can separate out the hardware, that’s fine. But we can’t separate out their personas: they’re just too interlinked.”
John raised a hand as if to stop her. “Wait, so even if you upload her, she’s still going to have her ‘imaginary’ friend running around with her? Two of them in the same core? Would that even work?”
“Tabiranth proves the integration between two personas is, at some level, possible, John.” Sybil noted, though in her case she has the advantage of two separate cores.”
“Amanda and her Desmond are even more tightly integrated. There is no way we can have one without the other.” Noriko added.
“I think they’d both probably be OK with that.” John noted. “They’ve been together for a while now and, as you pointed out, there’s overlap as to where one of them ends and the other begins.”>
<”A binary pair inextricably linked in eternal orbit of each other.”> The words intonated the simulated air around them. <”This does complicate the next part of the experiment.>
“I’m sorry, what?” Noriko asked.
<”Uploading the consciousness of Not-Elizabeth-but-Amanda along with Desmond-001 is only first step. Eventual goal of experiment is to return Not-Elizabeth-but-Amanda to organic human body with standard brain. Presence of Desmond-001 complicates process.’>
“I…wait…how?!” Noriko demanded. “Let’s just, for sake of argument, say that we accept that her current body can be cloned. After all, Clan medical tech is insane, and they can evidently clone limbs. From there, jumping to a whole body, brain included, is not too far a leap.”
<”Agreed.”>
“OK, then,” Noriko asked, “just ignoring the ethical issues, how the hell do you rebuild the neuro pathways on an organic brain?”
<”Kolossus agrees that this is a difficult question, and one that will require multiple parties to answer. Kolossus believes that to successfully accomplish this would require the intersection of the pinnacle of Star League genetic science, Clan medical cloning technology, and your cognitive computing research. Kolossus also acknowledges that success may be decades, or even centuries, in the future. But Kolossus is patient, and with Not-Elizabeth-but-Amanda uploaded, Kolossus would like to note time is one thing that is not in short supply.”>
“I’d like to point out there may also be an interim option,” Sybil interjected. “While the Desmond implants, for all their processing power, still need a human brain to really bootstrap their capabilities, we’ve made great strides in miniaturization of the computer cores that should, in theory, be able to support a human mind. We may not be far from the point where our humanoid remotes have enough internal processing power to support our minds at a speed sufficient to interact with baseline humans.”
Noriko sighed. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Just uploading Amanda and Desmond in Amanda’s current state is going to be hard enough. Focus on that, get them uploaded and stable, and then worry about what the future holds.”
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===Family Reunion===
Daryl Roberts, some weeks ago.
Daryl felt the gaze of his wife.
“Two of them? Well, I’ll grant they’re exotic beauties, so no wonder the tabloids have been having a field day. We’ll have to talk about this later, in private. What’re your names dears?” Samantha said as she studied first Daryl, then his diplomatic security in the form of two of Mashona’s human form remotes.
“Mashona,” they said in unison.
“You’re like Maori aren’t you?” the younger Roberts son asked bluntly.
“Yes. In human terms, we would be considered sisters.” Mashona answered flatly.
“You have a lovely voice. Tell me, have you ever considered singing?” Samantha smiled.
“It’s good to see you again.” Daryl hugged his wife and kids.
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About eight weeks after victory
Helena was already showing slightly as she pulled up to the Roberts’ farm.
Leon kindly helped her from the ground car.
Daryl and his wife were there, waiting for them.
Next came two boys.
“Thanks for this. I know it’s a big ask, but it was the closest I could come to keeping a promise I made.” Helena corralled the two boys.
“Don’t be ridiculous. They’re family after all, and that’s all anyone else around these parts need to know. And so are you. So, you made Leon an honest man? Good for you. And it looks like you two wasted no time at all.” Samantha smiled.
“Yeah, the procedure worked a little too well. Quadruplets. Two boys and two girls. This is going to be interesting.”
“You poor thing! You’re welcome to stay here as long as you need!” Mrs. Roberts showed genuine concern for Helena.
===Epilogues and Legends===
====Local Sight Seeing Tour====
"Officially, Senior Director…
…Amanda Jayne Roberts, age 22, died of her injuries while being medically evacuated from the world of Churchstone. Her body was returned to Sevon V for internment in the Roberts family portion of the cemetery where her Grandfather, Father, and Mother were buried."
"You can see it. It's right over there, the headstone with all the gifts and a military guard." the tour guide said. "The funeral for 'The Great Captain Roberts' was attended by the President of the parliament, Mitchell Avellar, as well as dignitaries from Clan Snow Raven and half the local governments within five hundred light years."
The tour guide half-smiled to his guests. "That's the official story. There are other stories, especially in the decade or so after the war's official end, during the pacification period. Units claiming to have encountered Captain Roberts in person, while running down the last extremists from the Sons of Plunder. The ones who refused to surrender. And there are stories from further afield too. A Filtvelt task force that swears 'Captain Roberts' showed up at a critical time during a raid by the Tortuga Fusiliers, and drove them off. But those are stories, aren't they? But it gets better, there's stories of the Evanescent being haunted, among the guys in the Touman."
"What happened to her implant?" one of the guests asked.
"It's in the University of Johnson's technical archive," the guide stated. "They're probably going to study it for another decade or more. Then it'll go into a museum. The implant's quite dead, sir, it can't be revived… At least, if you don't think it's a fake. There are stories there, too. Rumors and star-stories… and we're about out of time folks. Don't forget to stop at the gift shop on your way out."
"One last question, did you know her yourself?"
"Briefly. My aunt was… a remarkable woman. An inspiration to us as youngsters." He grinned genuinely. "I liked her a lot. Miss her, too. I'll be shipping to Northsun next July. Maybe I'll see her ghost on my training cruise."
"Is her body really there?"
"It was when we buried her. I saw it, touched it… not my proudest moment, Ma'am." he confessed.
The sunlight of 07:00 AM, May 20, 3131 cast shadows across the graveyard, as the guide led his customers back to their transport.
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====Big Bad Kitty in the Yard====
Roberts Family Farm - Sevon, Raven Alliance
Helena watched her two sons and two daughters playing in the yard.
Tabiranth was out in the yard with them as well. Helena had to get a bit creative to get Tabby to agree to the detail but Tabiranth ultimately did under the pretense of Protection Detail for the children.
“Granny Tabby, like the big kitty?” Sally asked innocently.
“Yes. That’s right, Sally.” Tabiranth said flatly.
“Then you should meow!” Sally giggled.
“I’m not sure how that is a logical conclusion to come to.”
“Meow!” Sally demanded.
“Fine. Meow.” Tabiranth said completely deadpan.
Sally broke out into laughter and fell to the ground, rolling.
“Thanks again for indulging me all these years.” Helena smiled at the exchange.
“Of course! You’re family. Plus it keeps it from being too quiet around here. Now that the boys are turning into such fine men, and going out to make their own lives. And you needed the help, since the procedure to let you have kids again obviously worked a little too well.” Samantha Banes Roberts smiled.
“True. I think there are two factors that make this time different. One, I’m not running away or hiding. At least, not like I was the last time. Two, I have people around me that are not my AIs that I want to share this with. That means a lot to me. Plus, I still help big sis here and there on the sly.”
“Family, Helena. Now come on. Looks like we need to help your friend.”
“Yeah. They’ve had enough fun.” Helena smiled.
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====Meeting a Revenant====
Somewhere in the Outworlds Wastes, 3130 CE, at the site of a massacre
"Stand Down!!" 
The one-eyed woman held a pistol large enough it probably belonged on a suit of armor, and should rightly be considered a stockless carbine.
"I am The Great Captain Roberts!" Her voice wasn't intimidating. It probably helped that she was holding that huge handgun in one hand, and a cutlass-patterned vibroblade in the other. "And I'm too great to be taken by the likes of you!" she accused
Colonel Richard Mitchell's father is the president of the Thazi Confederacy, a loose union of worlds united slowly from the ruins of the spinward half of the Outworlds Waste. The Old Man would've had the right words to say, facing this situation. The very best Richard could come up with was blunt truth.
"I'm not trying to take you down. I just want you to stop before you hurt someone… And I want to know what the hell you think you're doing?"
She blinked one-eyed. The other 'eye' was a hollow socket lined with some kind of metallized ceramic.
Richard tried again, "You… witnessed what happened here?"
She seemed to 'de-tense'. "I did what happened here. Who the hell are you guys?"
He stepped forward, waving his team's shooters NOT to engage. "You did this?"
"You really haven't heard of me??" she asked. "You got a datalink??"
"Data… link?"
"Christ… okay, Officially I'm Director Amanda Roberts, Outworlds Privateer, associated to the 2nd Alliance Fleet, and I'm waiting for my ride."
"Your ride?"
"My ship. The Evanescent is another four hours from orbit… you guys aren't affiliated with the Sons of Plunder, are you?"
"NO!! God no, we chased one of their units this way..."
"Well, you're late. I killed 'lord captain' Frederick and his Mechwarriors… Did you guys come in on that DropShip I saw re-entering around zero five AM local?"
"Yeah! That was us… wait, Alliance Second Fleet… You mean, Raven Alliance?"
"I prefer to think of it as the Outworlds," she said. "but yeah, that's us."
"Aren't you a little far spinward?"
"For the Regulars, yeah." She lowered the hand-cannon next, and the cutlass powered down. "I'm a Privateer under letter of Marque signed by the President of the Parliament. I don't report to a Khan." The scorn in her tone was almost as visceral as her previous behavior had seemed unhinged.
Up close, he could see silvery streaks in her hair, a worn, drawn complexion, and an angry, reddish scar barely hidden under hair, on her temple.
"You really haven't heard of me? Battle of Trespass? Liberation of Joan's Post? Task Force Desmond?" She was fishing, he could hear it in her questioning.
"Uh, some of it?" he said uncertainly.
"Dammit, I need to hire a publicist!!" she cursed at the sky. "I am the Greatest Pirate Hunter you'll ever see!! I wanted to be a pirate, but then I found out what they're really like."
Up close, the long jacket was clearly more of a stylishly fashioned tarp covering a suit of light powered armor.
And that armor had recent burns and damage to the outer coatings.
"Colonel Richard Mitchell, 200th Royal Light Horse, Thazi Confederacy."
She paused mid-motion, going stock-still. 
"DUDE! YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!" her sudden paralysis broke with the enthusiasm of a fan meeting a rock star. "Broke the Sons second regiment at second battle of Sorsk, Captured Lord Leftenant General Dylan Ivey at Ingraham!! You guys are almost as good as WE are! And you don't even have to deal with the kind of political bullshit the Ravens sling out!!"
She stopped. "I don't suppose you brought a transport for the civilians with you, didyah? The rest of my group is still three jumps out, and it gets stinkier than hell when you cram two hundred civvies into a Bonnie's steerage!!"
"Yeah, we brought a transport for the victims-"
"YO-HO-HO!!! ALL-RIGHHHT!!! WHOOO!" She put the cutlass away. "Thank you!! ******, I was driving my imaginary friend crazy trying to figure out how to get the civvies cleared of the slave collars and sorted when I've only got six guys out of the ten I landed with!!"
Up close, Richard's education suggested the reddish scar was from some kind of lobotomy, her 'unhinged' was back in full motion… and it clicked.
"You're… way out of your normal range, Captain."
"I chase ******, sometimes they go outside the boundaries of what's supposed to be my yard.” She shrugged. "Look, if you've got medical support and a transport ship, I can get the people from YOUR side back to you, and take mine, and everybody's happy, ayeh? Except the Bandits. But screw them, they deserve what they got."
Later, at the after action brief, Richard Mitchell would note the complete absence of a Bonaventure in the system, along with testifying to the sudden disappearance of Captain Roberts shortly after their meeting.
The contact report would be filed under 'ghost stories'.
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====Welcoming another child to the universe====
Port Orphan, Maternity Ward
“UUUUUGGGGH!!!” Saya grunted. “Why did I let you talk me into another?”
“You’re kidding right? You’re the one who said they wanted to try for a boy this time,” Phoenix sniped back.
“Well remind me to talk to Kolossus so you can know what this is like… HHHHGGGGGNNNN…” Saya started panting.
“Hey, don’t go giving Kolossus ideas. Kolossus did an amazing job precision stringing together DNA that approximates what a human version of me would be like. So you know, Kolossus would love the challenge, and we both know Kolossus would do it just to see if it was possible. And wow am I glad my hand is made from military grade endo steel.” Saya squeezed Phoenix’s hand.
With one last push Saya finally gave birth to a healthy baby girl.
The wail of the child and a bundle being passed to Saya primed the next stage of the ritual.
“She’s gorgeous, like her mother.” Saya said.
“You sure you want to keep with tradition a second time? Amanda’s teacher gives me dagger eyes whenever we meet.”, Phoenix asked
“Yes. Since Alice has done so much to make this place a home for families, our daughter’s name will be Alice Yeh M5 7775551.” Saya insisted.
“We’re going to be oh so popular during all the PTA conferences for a long time to come.” Phoenix leaned in to kiss their new daughter on the forehead, then kissed Saya.
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Nearby in the waiting room
“Phoenix and Saya are so adorable together.” Alice stifled a laugh.
“Yes, they are. This place has become so much more than a military base now. Thanks to you, Alice.”
“Thanks, Mom. It was rather sweet of them to name their daughter after me. I like that.” Alice said Happily
Saya and Phoenix’s older daughter, Amanda, was playing with the toys in the waiting room where the two AIs were watching her.
“A typical reaction for parents who owe another a debt of gratitude.” observed Billie
“I wish we didn’t have to part ways though. All I’ve really done so far is putter around this system.”
“You’ll do fine. I know it’s your first real deployment, but you have the help of the rest of the family. And you’ll have Amanda’s nephew on his first tour as well. It's time for you to start exploring the universe. I can take care of things here with Foster.” Billie hugged Alice.
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====In the distant Future...====
07.August.3132 (Star League Universal Time 1730 Hours)
Kolossus was confined to one system for the first time in centuries.
"Wake up. You're needed again."
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==Chapter Note==
*;Note from the Author, Cannonshop: Credits to 2ndACR for one of these scenes, it was supposed to show up a hell of a lot earlier, but here it is. Special thanks to Giovanni Blasini for Noriko's scene and for helping keep the AI work straight. Credits to co-author Monbvol, and our long-suffering editor Daryk, for putting up with my bullshit with good humour.I may throw in some appendices here and there-stuff that 'is' but isn't in the next story we collaborate on. but here ya go, I finished it.Put together, the Strategos series is about the length of a bad novel, covering enough ground to be worth a mediocre series.That ground is less geographic, than Temporal. Especially when you drag in the stories leading up to this in the "Revenants of the Star League" series ("Ridiculously Overboard", "The Great and the Good", "Weapons of War 1 and 2" and so on.)It's been a while since I world-built something that wasn't a Ngoverse variation on some level.
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