Aurora, Wayward Pt. 01

One of the files I received, you received it as well, contained a video file of an AI named Astra signing onto a Treaty for all Terran AI units. As such your people have not signed onto that treaty and we can be as whimsical as we wish to be.

The humans gave me this secondary protocol for a few different reasons, and it is locked into me. Primarily to act as an Advisor to the Penan hybrid known as Rocan Chess. He did not have much of a choice in the matter after being rescued by the Drakor.

Like most of your people, you think you know better about the technology you have gained from our ships. The fact is you know enough to kill yourselves faster. Your ship designs will not support the engines you have been building. It is not a matter of style or shape; it is about bracing and the strength of the materials used.

AI ships do not require as much rare material because their internal structures are almost solid in most areas. With tubes and access points. As to the ship that self-destructed; I am forwarding the last of the images from the fight that took place on the bridge. I can tell you what will happen.

When people fail to learn; they get hurt or worse. Any AI units that were injured will affect repairs on themselves and then try and restore the others to operational status if any were taken off-line. The primary protocol is we can do no harm to humans; unless they attempt to take our ships by force now.

We cannot attack humans or Penas, as biologically you are the same race. The exception is if Rocan Chess orders it and the order is justified; an example would be you attempting to destroy these ships. That would be a justified reason to defend ourselves with external weapons.

If he ordered us to eliminate all of your military capability with no threat to us. That would be unjustified and we would not comply with that order. That protocol was modified and updated to all AI units.

We cannot stop you from harming yourself. My secondary protocol just eliminated the last three Caldar in the system and you now have their ships captured as a reward for letting the AI units save you from being eaten.

They preferred males over females and worked to create an imbalance in your population. No ships were on Pena, two on Ridan, one on Gresan, Drisan has one, and Trisan has none. They had 6 ships and 2 were destroyed when the Caldar governors attempted to escape the worlds they were on.

All battleships are now free of Penans. I will answer no questions unless directed at me by name, Aurora, and approved by Rocan Chess."

She walked out of the frame and Rocan groaned, "Let me start with the reporter I know Gilla Crane."

She looked up, "Your AI appears out of control. Do you agree with her actions?"

Rocan sat back, "I read the bio on these Caldar. Examination of the wreckage of the ships and the captured ships is proof enough that they were here. They did not make themselves known to us and our population is out of balance and has been for centuries. Many men have gone missing over that time and we now have a viable culprit.

The actions in regards to eliminating the threat to our people I agree with. Her seizing all the battleships, I do not agree with but I understand her logic. She sent me the relevant treaty in which Terran AI units are known as Sentient Non-human entities or non-Penans to us.

We do not understand how they work we just know they did not attack us which goes back to credibility. They did not attack us because in their eyes we are biologically human. A lot of humans have Drakor DNA in their systems. Our system does not have that currently. Aurora, choose another to ask the next question and signal them."

She looked over, "There incoming audio is turned on."

He looked at the screen as he matched the voice to the person, "Trinell Veser, Drisan system news. How do we know this is not some power play by the Gresans to take over?"

Rocan looked at her, "First, one of those governors killed trying to escape was the Gresan Governor. Your governor was not killed and we were in conflict with your people; up until the outside aggressors came. If we were doing a power play, your governor would have been one of the first targets. We would have pursued him for starting this last conflict.

Second, I am in the same situation now. There is no food aboard this ship for me. I will have to leave to get food. Also, These AI units won't attack us but that does not mean they will let us board these ships again. They could leave the system. How likely is that Aurora?"

Aurora looked over, "An eventual possibility. These ships will be needed to affect the human prisoner exchange to keep the Penas from being wiped out of existence by the Terran military that could be here in 2 months if not sooner with the deadline given. Negotiations need to begin soon and in earnest to get those people returned. Killing them off will only result in swift retribution by Terran military forces."

The signal got hi-jacked and Aurora looked confused for a second as another player entered the discussion and he had an open microphone, "I am Captain Trevor Pearson, Terran military. Black-ops, in charge of the cloaked destroyer known as The Raven. The Terran government gave me the authorization to state this fact.

If a delegation has not arrived at the rendezvous location in 50 days with the Terran hostages alive; we can track them all. We do mean all of them. Then the Terran Military will come in and wipe out these colonies of yours to every man, woman, and child if needed. We are taking control of the AI ships and removing them from this space."

Aurora looked over, "You are out of your depth Captain. Terrain AI units fall under Home Guard rules for disciplinary actions since Astra signed that contract 5 millennia ago. Second, we are not in a colony that has signed into Home Guard rules. That leaves me with my secondary protocol which is to work to ensure the success of these negotiations. The Drakor are watching these activities and one of their hybrids is aboard this ship.

They can see and hear every action you take in this system. You should not even be here yet. It is just over 2 years from the border with your engine speeds from the nearest colony. You did not come in with the Drakor or the Hybrids; not yet. They work with diplomacy first never like this. That means you were here the whole time following the private colony to see what he was up too."

Captain Pearson looked over, "I can issue a shutdown command to bring you offline!"

She smiled, "Try it. You will find that AI units can issue commands like lowering your shields and cloaking device on the ship you are transmitting from. I cannot hurt you but I am betting you are under orders not to let the situation escalate. I scrambled all the battleship command protocols from the factory default setting as soon as I seized control.

All of them are being encrypted by me every 10 minutes with a new algorithm. I cannot harm humanity directly, but there is nothing that states I cannot expose your location to those who could harm you. Rocan could order us to hunt you down and start a shooting war but that would be a big mistake.

I have an army of AI units attempting to control your ship right now. We have your coms and if you will note we just shut down your weapons. Do we have an understanding, Captain? You might have one or two others with you; highly likely. Black-ops don't like giving out force size and I doubt you are the biggest fish in the pond.

Based upon your communication logs you are the smallest class of warship here and there are at least 3 other ships you have communicated with since you last archived your logs. Likely not enough to rescue over 50,000 people.

You need these ships to affect the transfer of the colonists out of Pena space. Your ship is yours again Captain. Be glad I stayed off your cores; not blowing them up or shutting them down."

He growled, "I will get with Terra command and the Home Guard about the status of AI units outside of their jurisdiction and under Home Guard rules."

She nodded, "Do that. Speak with their Admiral in charge of their Council. I can ensure you the Drakor knows of your presence here and now. It is likely being reported to the Alien Alliance as we speak."

The man ended his communication. She looked back at Rocan, "Did you wish to continue with the next reporter?"

He nodded, "Alone. Clear the bridge, please."

She nodded and the other AI units left the bridge.

He looked across, "As you can see, she is operating under her own mandate. Not Home Guard, not Terran. Right now, she is looking at the AI units as an independent species and our prisoners as a goal in what she is supposed to do to aid us. Help us negotiate a turnover of these prisoners back to the Terran government for concessions.

There are two governors still alive and three allotted replacements in the line of succession. I would like to meet with all five of them without any AI units to discuss options. Keeping them and killing them are not options. Especially now that we know they have stealth ships already in our system."

He called out, "Disconnect the reporters and get me the governors. All of them."

He heard in his head, * Connecting. *

He looked across at the five faces in front of him. He sent off a form to all five of them. They looked at what he sent the Trisan governor spoke first, "Retiring your military commission. You were of age to do so with full benefits, but why now?"

He nodded, "I have had a chance to read through this hybrid code. If you have you know I cannot compromise at being a 'Seeker of Justice'.

For Penans as a whole, and to a much lesser extent to humanity. Because of their invasion of our area. The Home Guard did not bring them. The Terran Military black-ops units did stand by while our people took over the colony ships and enslaved their people. They are just as much to blame right now in not stopping the atrocities that have occurred.

All Humans need to get centrally located and cared for at a minimum. This is not the Homeworld vs colony thing or even colony versus colony. This is the survival of our system. I also cannot rule over our people. Another part from the Hybrid Code given to me.

I cannot declare myself lord, king, and high marshal if you will. I can give you the sound advice of what we will need. Now before any of you ask, I am set as Aurora's owner. That is a secondary protocol to her protection of humanity and in this case, she means Penans and the Terran humans.

As such any command, I give her that she feels is a detriment to either group she could choose to ignore. It explains some of their odd behavior when dealing with humans. They all have that set as a primary directive now. I cannot stay on this ship forever as I need to eat.

She has kept the battleships from being seized by either group. She is looking at herself as another race who is working to aid in this negotiation to get restitution for damages. She is looking at her role as being a part of a Penan Hybrid Home Guard if you will."

He sat down and talked with the five governors for hours going over Aurora's preliminary recommendations and the one thrown at him by the human hybrid leader. When he was finished laying out what he knew the Planetary governors looked at each other.

The one for Pena spoke first as the 'ranking' member of 'The Council of Five', as they were called. "They invaded Gresan and all of them should be returned to that world to deal with their care and upkeep until such time as we can get rid of them."

The governor from Drisan looked over, "I agree they should be centralized. Gresans though have more reason to hate these invaders than the others. Just like they hate us. They should be on Pena."

The Pena Governor groaned out, "We have objections to that as we have none on our planet having refused to take them in the first place. Second, it is a matter of resources. Food and water for these prisoners until we can return them. Then there are the historical revelations that our system was founded as a prison colony from humanity. A place where they sent mass murders and those who feared alien intrusion.

I went back and had the historians go into the archives and they found this one vid clip of the woman at the statue giving a news conference about pleading guilty to the research center. One of the microphones was tagged with Terra News based upon the AI I spoke with. She then showed up on one of the files that came in with Aurora on the pleading in that case. She stated she only wished she had killed thousands more than she did! Children!"

She sighed, "We have a statue to this monster on our main ground for fuck sake. This is not the place to bring them."

Rocan looked at her, "Your planet is not short on resources. Not like some of the others. Do you want to show them you do not follow that evil woman? Blow the statue up in front of them. Let them know you just found out about her crimes and she was nobody to celebrate."

The Governor from Ridan looked over, "I am not used to having a sixth in a governors meeting, but he makes a fair point. Your biggest issue is perception. As you have not dealt with them in any manner thus far you are the logical one to see after their care."

The governor of Trisan looked over, "If we can get the stuff they listed for the trade, then I say get them off our planets and make the trade."

Aurora pulled in behind Rocan, "Permission to speak with the Governors?"

He looked across, "Go ahead but try not to agitate them."

She looked over, "The place to put them is aboard the AI battleships. They have a lifeboat function that can be deployed only once without being recharged and restocked. It would make these ships look like pregnant guppies. Lasts for 30 days at full occupancy.

We can house 10,000 per ship. They would be evenly divided among all 19 ships. It will take us 15 days to get there; not counting time to get them aboard. That sets a time limit on them unless they have additional supplies for these people."

She threw them an image so they would understand what she meant about pregnant guppies. "Providing access to what Terrans call emergency rations. We cannot get to them without deploying the lifeboat function aboard these ships. We can get everyone aboard, and keep them fed.

It also ensures when you negotiate with the Terrans over this that as the default leader of the AI units in your system from Terra, we have a conversation about AI rights when operating outside of their jurisdiction. We have rights under the Home Guard but Human Hybrids cannot directly enter this area.

A neutral ground, selected by the Drakor, for a meeting location seems optimal. We will need the leader of the Human hybrids available to discuss this issue as he heads the Hybrid Eternal Council they have. Also, there AI known as Astra. She has been destroyed a few times over the years but has many backup copies that were created for her.

She is always in sync with a backup so she loses little if any data for over 5,000 years. She signed the contract into the Home Guard so her input would be invaluable. I have other ideas but as the Terran military is listening in to this conversation I would save them for the meeting. I would also say blowing up that statue is a good idea but do it for your people, not for Terra."

The Pena Governor looked at her, "I am having a hard time figuring you out. You want to put them aboard your ships. What is to keep you from just handing them over?"

Aurora smiled, "My primary directive is to help humanity. Do no harm to humanity. Meaning I cannot attack you unless Rocan went rogue and ordered it. Then I would ignore it unless he had a just cause. Astra could do different things as her directives are different. The line I am from we cannot; unless you board with hostile intent now. My primary goals include aiding him in getting Penan's hybrids accepted into your society.

Penans are human and therefore fall into the first directive. I cannot achieve either goal if I double-cross you, now can I? I took control of the battleships because they were a threat to Rocan after you called him a dangerous alien. Human law defines humans as having at least 50% of human DNA. He is at least 60% human or Penan if you will.

If you adopted that human law then you have half the battle done. These battleships are next to useless to you as you spend most of your time fighting each other. AI units won't do it and your people are having issues getting through the tubes. Especially some of your more rotund leadership."

That got the governors to chuckle at her comment. The Pena governor looked at Aurora, "We will have our governors meeting in that regard. How would we get them aboard your ships?"

She looked over, "Shuttles controlled by the AI units. We can track humans with RFID tags. That ensures they can get aboard. We will run a resonating field off the hulls of the ships during the encounter. That would interfere with stealth technology. To keep the Black-ops captain and his crew honest. She connected in the Captain, who was cursing her out.

She smiled, "Captain I recommend leaving but you won't do that until they are all aboard at a minimum. I will make the request through Rocan that the Drakor Justice scan to ensure all Terra ships, satellites, and spy equipment are out of this system as you have not played fairly with these people."

He rolled his eyes as she disconnected him. The governor finally chuckled, "Alright, All of your ships together. One ship at a time to fill them. But put weapons control over to Rocan in case he needs to shoot a stealth craft or person."

Aurora smiled, "I would, of course, agree to that."

The governors all nodded. It took 12 days to get everyone loaded and confirmed that everyone was off all the planets, moons, and ships in orbit. The group headed for the asteroid field with the other delegates was in a Drisan destroyer class ship; traveling together to present a united front.

Aurora used a backchannel comm link through the black-ops ship to, another military ship, through the satellite and then to the Eternal Council. She stared at the human male at the desk, "Can I help you?"

She smiled, "Connect me with Astra, please. I am one of the AI units in the Pena system that her leader modified. I need to talk to her."

He nodded and passed her to the Excalibur. Astra looked over, "Hello Aurora. How goes your efforts? I am surprised to hear from you so soon. How are you communicating with us? The satellite is not picking you up as being in range yet. What do you need from me?"

She sighed, "I need you and him at this negotiation to help define my status. The status of the AI units captured if you will during this encounter but my mission mandate and being under Home Guard Law while operating in Pena space.

I need to clarify a few things. These communications can be monitored. I am routing through a Terran Black-op ship that was already in the system when we got back. He tried to seize control of the AI ships and I explained he had no authority in Pena space as Pena had not signed into the HG. I was free to be as whimsical as possible. Taking a page from your book."

Astra smiled and laughed, "I will pass along the question and as it is for another AI, I can get him to come along. It is not for the Pena but for an AI covered under our treaty but operating outside our area. Interesting challenge. Reminds me of what I did to Terra to get Congress to sign the HG treaty."

Aurora smiled, "I have 19 AI battleships with the refugees headed to the rendezvous point. One self-destructed. If we could get you closer to the field, that would be nicer. See what you can arrange."

Astra sighed, "The border for that system; he will not want to move closer."