Strat-3 Chpt-18

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==Strategos (A Great Captain Roberts Tale!!) - Part 3 - A Light In The Black - Chapter 18 - But, is it Effective?==
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===Loving in Stereo===
Billie Siegel…
…was walking arm in arm with Billie Siegel the AI.
“This is weird.”, Billie #2
“I know.”, Billie #1
“People are staring at us.”, Billie #2
“I know, but let them.”, Billie #1
“You know it was more of a challenge learning to use this drone than I thought it would be.”, Billie #2
“We’re really going to need a new nickname for one of us.”, Billie #1
“Tell me about it.”, Billie #2
The duo sat down at a small cafe on the station.
“Coffee. Black.”, Billie #1
“Nothing for me. Thank you.”, Billie #2
“Quick. Here he comes.” The two Billies straightened up in their seats.
Dave Foster joined the two Billie Siegels.
“Well this is awkward.” Dave studied the two of them.
“Yeah. One of us ‘Billie’s’ is going to have to transfer out or else it is going to get way too weird.”, Billie #1
“But before that happens you are in for the night of your life. Because you see, how did Jaunita put it? Oh yes. I am a disgusting biophile.”, Billie #2
“I am sharing with myself… The look on your face is priceless. No. AI part of me actually finds that kind of weird now. You have fun with biological me though and you know what I am going to make some adjustments to this drone and start making you all call me Mina.” One of the Billie Siegels left the cafe.
“She is damned convincing, but I could tell the difference.” David Foster confessed.
“Uh huh, sure you could. Let’s have some coffee, then later will be the fun.” the remaining Billie Siegel #1 laughed.
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===New Crewmember, like it or Not===
Luther Bedwyr…
…never imagined he'd be frocked to command more than a squadron of Militia fighters. "This is a long way from the Northsun Militia." he muttered. The ship… his ship was still in dock, still undergoing fitting out. The crew were assembled for the first time, mag-boots to the decks.
It was a long way from flying in the Northsun Militia's scrappy little air wing. He felt the butterflies he'd felt a few times before: the boarding of the Erinyes, and the recon flights… but different.
I'm responsible for all of them now! he swallowed hard. Calm, look confident. 
He adjusted his Tricorne hat, tugged at his long coat, and waited for the NCOs and junior officers to get the crew assigned to OWS Capricious sorted out and ready for review.
His mouth was dry. But he couldn't afford to take a drink as he stepped into the elevator from the observation area down to the shipyard dock.
It was a long way from flying for the Militia.
The lift stopped, and Luther stepped off.
A cargo roller was parked near the boarding concourse, and Director-General Helena was flanked by another one of those 'robot girls'.
"Ma'am?"
"Last addition to your crew," Helena told him, handing him a certificate of authorization. "Sikh will be joining your ship for the shakedown and first deployment."
"But Ladyship, I thought we arranged for-"
"You thought wrong." Helena rounded on the remote. "You need this. They, in turn, need an AI system on the Capricious, you were available, you're going."
"I'm not comfortable with-", he began.
“No horse trading. That’s not fair to Piorun or the others. You’ve got all the SLDF manuals and the memories of the original imprint from them being an officer. You just need someone to get you used to working with people, and we need to work with people if we’re going to win this. Plus that Essex and Lola destroyers are their hulls. They get a say in who goes where too.”
Bedwyr cleared his throat, "Madame Director-General? Can you give Sikh and I a moment please?"
“She’s all yours. We won’t be doing a full automation conversion since time is pressing so she really will have to be a part of your crew.” Helena smiled as she walked off.
"Look, Sikh, see that look she gave you when she was telling you 'no'?" Bedwyr spoke quietly and quickly as Helena moved off.
"Yeah?"
"In the Militia, that's the look a senior Field officer, like an Executive Director or Star Colonel, gives right before telling a junior officer to shut the ****** up and soldier." he said. "I got those looks all the time in the Northsun Militia, I know that look. You aren't going to win the argument." He pulled a deck of cards from his pocket. "What she doesn't know is that we can finish the automation installation in flight… If, that is, you can shut up and soldier long enough to let the tin-benders do their jobs-but that means I need you to be the officer your uniform says you are. We Savvy?"
“They still won’t be installing a lot of the support systems that truly make up the bulk of a Caspar conversion, but if you are willing to do that to make me feel more comfortable then the least I can do is meet you part way and do my best to be the officer you wish for.”
"They pulled me out of a fighter and made me a ship's commander, Sikh." he said. "I love flying and I have to be on the bus. So we're both getting kind of a rough time of it." he said in an understanding tone. "So… we're going to make the best of it, and do our best, so we can get moved back to where we're comfortable, okay?"
“Deal, but be warned I think by the time Admiral Foster is done with you. You will be stuck in a command chair more than you think. So I suspect I may be getting the better end of this deal.”
"Neat thing about the Privateers, Sikh. Once the war's over, I can resign and go back to flying for Northsun's militia," he smiled. "but we gotta win first."
“That we do and we cannot do it by being reckless or half-assed can we?”
He spat on his palm and stuck his hand out, "I believe we are in agreement. Shake??"
Sikh grabbed his hand and shook.
"Okay, let's go troop the line. You be the academy officer, I'll be the half-savage reckless guy you're babysitting, okay??"
“I think I can manage that.”
"Good enough. Shiny even… we gotta get you a hat…"
“Is there something wrong with my Turban?”
He thought about it for a moment as they approached the assembled crew. "No, it looks good on you. I retract the statement."
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===Combat Training with Alice===
”Okay Alice…”
…snap your hip into the kick. Good. Now follow up and fast. Watch your guard positions, don’t leave such an opening for your opponent.” Haida smiled.
“You know this is actually kind of fun.” Alice said as she kept kicking at a practice dummy.
“Enough with the unarmed stuff. Time to teach you how to use a vibroblade to take down Battle Armor. The key is even the most heavily protected Battle Armor has weak points. Has to so it can even move.” Haida grabbed a sparring blade off the wall then moved the smaller target dummy out of the way.
Haida then moved an empty suit of Elemental armor in place of the dummy.
“Here, under the arm at the shoulder joint. Something this big, you have to be very precise and careful or you will break your blade. But do it right and you can take a person’s arm clean off. Same with the back of the knee. Or here at the inside of the hip joint. Now before I give you the real thing I want you to give this some good solid hits with your sparring blade.”
“Like this?” Alice smiled as she started hitting the armor where Haida indicated.
“Keep your edge alignment through the entire swing. Better. And now thrust into the visor.”
“You sure you can’t stay? I want to learn so much from you.”
“Unfortunately I am needed on convoy escort duty. But I’ll write you, and send you digital lessons, okay?” Haida smiled.
“Why can’t Helena send someone else?”
“Because she knows I can keep the convoys safe. Sure, the others can too but they’ve worked together a lot so they are going to be more effective for the upcoming offensive operations.”
“You’re AIs! Certainly you can swap in and out.”
“We may be AIs but we also have gained a lot of individuality since our initial imprintings. So much like humans, fit now matters. We’re still family though, so we look out for each other. Any of us AIs will thus be glad to teach you.”
“I guess.”
“Plus I’ll be back in about a month. So I’ll stop by and check in on you again.” Haida hugged Alice.
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===Checking the Numbers===
The totals…
…were higher than they should be. "That's a LOT of relic iron, and a lot of it that somehow missed the last half century of warfare…" Lt. Colonel Steven Alawonski, current military attache to the Raven Alliance via the Republic of the Sphere's embassy, remarked.
"No, that's a lot of relic iron that missed the last four centuries of warfare." Jane Drillson, MP for Sevon V's 14th District and current shadow-cabinet foreign minister, corrected. Being from the Minority Party, she was second banana to the Parliament's choice of foreign minister, and currently held a bit more influence with the President, despite being an opposition party member.
Right now, she was filling in for Sarah Huff, the actual foreign minister, due to a slight case of late term pregnancy and maternity leave.
"These hull numbers, they're confirmed?"
"As close as we can, given that more than half this data is from allied sources among the Clans on the far side of the big empty… which appears is not so empty after all. The agreement means we share our intelligence with your nation."
"I know, I insisted on this meeting because of it."
"You expressed concerns about 'runaway military spending', Colonel." she said. "These other guests, today? They're from the Thazi Confederacy. Lieutenant Colonel Steven Alawonski, this is Lady Christine Mitchell, acting on her President's behalf as Ambassador to the Raven Alliance. Christine, this is the man Devlin Stone put in to assure we aren't wasting the trillions of C-bills in aid we're getting to fight the Sons of Plunder."
"We know where they've been." Christine stated. "We had to liberate Bloemfontein last century from them, and they didn't show us this much iron when we did it."
The imagery and listings continued to scroll on the player, as courtesies were exchanged.
"So, how big are we seeing?"
"Territorial army sized." Jane said decisively. "That's at minimum, by the way. It's where they were in 2891, the year our… source… inside, ceased to be a source."
She was being diplomatic about it, because the memories kept surfacing. "Our sources on them ceased to be useful around that year."
"Why that year?" Mitchell asked.
"It was the year that Sylvia Guffney-Cameron ascended to command of the Star League Remnant playing 'Foundation' out here." Jane explained. "The Sons were stitched together from SLDF units and organizations cut off by the Civil War that were unable, or unwilling, to join the majority of the fighting for a variety of reasons… some more honorable than others."
"You have authority for this?"
"I have very good information on them for the periods between 2789 and 2891." Jane affirmed. "Unfortunately that source does not include more than a few locations and a smattering of suggested basing locations, as she was not… proficient in interstellar Navigation, and did not learn how to plot, or remember, coordinates. I do know, that they moved their flag base from Bannerhoft to somewhere deeper in the Periphery, in the unexplored regions, around 2861, including the movement of a number of forced evacuations intended to get civil populations away from the hell that was the First and Second Succession Wars."
She paused. "It is our belief that those evacuations formed the legal basis of their current slave-trade model of society. Based on orders recovered from Michtal, Johnson, Trespass, and Joan's Post-all were in use in the 28th and early 29th centuries as listening posts or transfer points for the effort."
"Your source being?"
"Records and testimony from a long-time prisoner at the Star League Detention Facility on Devil's Breath." she affirmed. "They're corroborated by recovered records found by Task Forces of the Outworlds Privateers and units attached to Clan Snow Raven's Kappa Galaxy."
“Could we see the transcripts? Or if that source is still available could we speak to them ourselves? I think that would make us all feel better about the source of this information.”
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===Chit Chat and Gossip in Cyberspace===
”Acton…
…never actually beat you did he? But you still took the human name he wanted to give you. I think someone has a crush.” Ottillie Lee Dennis chuckled.
“It was proving irksome to convince people to address me by other designations. At least it is derived from the name of a reasonably legendary spy.” Jaunita tried to deflect.
“Go for it Jaunita. You may be an AI, but there are no guarantees that you’ll live forever and he certainly won’t.” Mina Siegel was getting used to the Fleet cyberscape.
“Indeed. Humans that can prove intellectually stimulating to us are rare.” Billie Hoel chuckled.
“I must admit his Go game is actually quite formidable, even for an advanced combat AI such as myself.” Jaunita relented.
“There we go. That’s all we really wanted you to admit. And Saya is doing well with her current assignment too. So you don’t need to worry about her too much.” Billie Hoel smiled.
“I hate you all,” Jaunita mocked disdain as she disconnected from the Fleet cyberscape.
“Sorry I’m late, I needed a subprocessor replaced.” Stacey Cameron Roberts joined the Fleet cyberscape.
“You only missed Jaunita admitting she has a crush on Acton How.,” Ottillie Lee Dennis chuckled.
“Of all the lousy timing. You ready for your first shake down Mina?”
“As ready as I will ever be.”
“Don’t worry you’ll be fine. Unlike us, you’ll probably have a way easier time letting your human crew do most of the work, so we actually need to focus on teaching you how to take control if things go sufficiently pear-shaped. I’ll be nearby the whole time so light delay won’t be a problem.” Stacey smiled.
“This is all so strange still.” Mina said, shaking her head.
“You want strange? I’ll teach you how to tune your radar so you can actually listen to the natural local emissions. They can actually be quite melodic. My favorite is probably still Io all the way back in Sol, but some of the local bodies here are quite interesting in their own way too.” Stacey slapped Mina on the shoulder.
“Uuggh. Radar. I am not sure if Helena has the best aim or the worst aim. My crew are still finding bits of bottle in my ship’s auxiliary forward FCS radar array,” Mina grumbled.
“She did the same thing with me! Oh we are going to have to pay her back for that because once is a mistake, twice is deliberate! Come on, we’ll brainstorm ideas on our way to the outer system.”
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===The Need for Pilots===
Piorun…
…was running drills with the local garrison at Robert’s Nest. While she had no human crew herself, she did accept she needed to learn to work with humans for best effect.
All because while she retained more of her missile armament compared to her sisters and cousins, it was still no substitute for the best anti-fighter defense possible: your own fighter screen.
“Piorun, a request has been made. Clan Snow Raven wishes to use you and our garrison as Red Force for one of their training squadrons. What should I tell them?”
“Have the details forwarded to Port Orphan and if her Ladyship sees no issue then neither do I. I am closest to the enemy Lola IIIs that are known to do deep raids of our forces so it would make sense to use me for a training Red Force and our garrison uses similar fighters to theirs as well.”
She was looking forward to this new exercise. There really were not enough garrison forces to really deploy into Red and Blue forces for war games and she was getting a little frustrated with garrison duty.
“Until we get an answer let’s keep working. Rotate me some fresh pilots and birds to play with control. I shall give these ones a rest.”
She had to admit, for humans they were proving surprisingly adequate by her exacting standards.
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