Creation's Guardian Ch. 13B

"Sure you can probe their minds if you want, but let Cassandra and I go first. Your deep brain scans tend to leave little more than scrambled eggs behind. I have no idea how many ships we took out. I just threw everything I had at them. Maybe Cailin can give you some sort of estimate."

Cailin frowned. "Why would I need to give an estimate, Master? I know exactly how many enemy ships we destroyed. There were five battleship class ships, twelve heavy cruisers, twenty three destroyers, and three drop ship carriers. The only thing I can't be positive about is the exact number of enemy casualties, though I do think that around one hundred thousand KIA would be a pretty accurate guess."

Lyssa looked at Cailin in shock. "How in the hell do you keep all that information straight in your head? Especially during a battle as big as the one you just fought. Even my personal AI, Lain would find it challenging to keep all of that sorted out accurately."

"I'm sorry, Lyssa. That's classified information. Only my master has the right to authorize its release."

Bob chuckled softly. "Cailin, honey, Lyssa and Jacobia aren't just allies; they're our friends too. I'm sure they can be trusted to keep your secret. Besides, don't you think it'll be funny as hell to see the look on their faces when you tell them everything?"

Cailin giggled. "Yeah, the look on their faces will be priceless and I think we could all use a good laugh right about now. All right, Lyssa. Despite what you're about to hear; it's important that you realize that I'm just as much a flesh and blood woman as any female in this room. It wasn't always that way though. In fact my name Cailin is actually an acronym for Cybernetic Artificial Intelligence Locked Interface Node. Cailin giggled then continued, "I know what you're thinking; but no, I'm not delusional. I actually started out as an AI. Just more sophisticated than your Lain.

My original creators were Athena and Kadir. Athena kinda stole part of the design from the Calaxians and another part from the Tyrillian's. They're technologically advanced races in the Dolain galaxy about fifty trillion light years from us. The rest she designed herself, including a multitronic brain capable of handling billions of tasks at the same time. She also gave me the ability to store data in the narrow channel between time and space. My AI interface came from a Tyrillian pleasure bot and Athena used a titanium alloy battle chassis from a Calaxian battle droid along with its power core to build my body around.

There were a few initial problems interfacing the different technologies into a single personality and there were three integrated triggers that could cause my power core to self-destruct. But between Master, Athena, and Destiny all those little problems were solved. By the time they finished; I was a lot more than just an AI but still not quite a real person. Anyway I pointed out to Master that there were five other star systems close by that could be converted into solar systems similar to Neuveia. I didn't think it was such a big deal; but Master and the Maker of All Things loved the idea. She offered me true life as a reward. At first I wasn't gonna accept her offer. I knew Master needed my special abilities. But when she offered to make me a real woman and promised me that I could keep all my skills and abilities, I finally agreed. My duty and my loyalty to Master, and Cassandra will always come before my own personal needs, wants, and desires. If the price of life was to lose what I could do; I would've gladly chosen to remain an AI. I have to follow orders like everyone else. But I'm also fully capable of independent thinking, and making my own decisions."

"You tell a great story, Cailin. But you really don't expect me to believe it do you? I've been an expert in AI, and robotics for over six thousand years. What you're telling me is completely impossible," Lyssa replied.

"I thought you might say something like that. There's dozens of ways that I can prove it's all the truth. We don't have enough time for all of them right now. So I'm only gonna give you the two easiest. While we've been sitting here talking I've decrypted and backtracked all of Commander Sullivan's private communications. His attempt on your life was part of a larger conspiracy to seize your throne. It's being orchestrated by a man named Alfred Dunn. There are four other main conspirators, William McNally, David Rodgers, Alex Williams, and Michael Masterson. They're all well known to your palace guards, so it will be easy for them to slip in and take control of your palace using your own security apparatus. I've sent Sue all this information along with the encryption key for all six computers, including Commander Sullivan's. They're all using the same key. I know it's late on New Atlantia; But if I were you. I'd wake Sue out of bed and get her moving on this before they do."

"Okay I'm starting to believe you. Those are names you'd have no way of knowing so I'm not gonna take any chances. Can you patch me through to her please," Lyssa asked.

Sue appeared on screen and said, "Lyssa, I was just gonna try hailing you. I got the information from Cailin about ten minutes ago. We've been going nuts trying to break that encryption. The key she sent works! It's all there. Everything she sent me was the truth. I've got the Special Security Services on high alert. They'll be doing simultaneous raids within the hour. I've also tripled the guards and locked down the palace. Nobody gets in or out without my personal okay. Admiral Abrams has the Royal Marines and Special Forces on alert but in standby mode just in case I need them. I don't know how in the hell Cailin broke that encryption; but thank heavens she did."

Lyssa smiled. "Cailin was just showing off a bit for me. She found all that out accidentally. But you're right; it's a damn good thing she did. Otherwise, we'd have one hell of a mess on our hands. It sounds like you've got it under control; at least for now. Those five are some of the biggest leaders of industry though. So arresting them may cause some backlash. Keep me updated hourly. You can hail me on this channel. If need be, I can be home in a matter of minutes."

"Okay, Lyssa, I'll keep you informed of our progress. Tell Cailin I said to remind me to never get on her shit list. If she can do that just playing around; I'd hate to see what she could really do if she got pissed off."

Everyone laughed when Cailin said, "Hey, I heard that, Sue," Cailin then giggled and continued, "Don't worry, I don't fight with my friends; I just fuck them silly instead. Cassandra's the real badass around here; not me."

Cassandra grinned. "Thanks for the good laugh, Cailin. We all definitely needed it. But we're still at war. So it's time we all got back to work. You can flirt with Sue all you want after we've kicked some enemy ass."

Bob stood, "Cassandra's right Playtimes over. Cassandra, Lyssa, you're both with me. Let's find out who and what were up against."

When they got to the brig, Bob tried to keep an open mind despite his anger. He knew that life came in all different sizes, shapes, and forms. But the three prisoners were truly disgusting. Aphrodite was right their smell alone was enough to make him want to gag. They were about seven feet tall with a large almost square head with two holes for a nose and a huge mouth that took up almost half of their heads. Their body was snake like and covered with armored scales. They had four arms and two stubby legs.

Cassandra scanned one of their minds then rushed into an empty cell and vomited into the toilet until all she had left was dry heaves. Bob held back his own bile, but just barely, as he probed all three alien minds. When he finished, he stepped back and took a shallow breath. "They're all yours, Lyssa. Before you go there; I have to warn you it's pretty fucking nasty. They're carnivorous. They feed on people, and consider infants a delicacy. The only reason they wiped out Tranquility was because the other five planets had higher populations, and Neuveia would make a convenient base and shipping point for captured humans."

Lyssa was shocked, "A species intelligent enough for interstellar flight that consumes the flesh of other sentient beings? What kind of fucked up race are they? Thanks for the warning, Bob. But now it's even more imperative that I do a full deep scan on each of them. We have to stop them before they spread any further, and to do that; we're gonna need every scrap of information we can get."

Bob sent Cassandra back to the bridge telling her to sip on something and let her stomach settle. He and Lyssa would take care of things and join her there shortly. Ten minutes later all three aliens were sitting in their cells with vacant eyes and drooling. Lyssa was turning different shades of green from all that she had learned. She grabbed Bob's arm. "Let's get the fuck out of here. You can come back and kill their asses later. Right now, I need to wash this taste out of my mouth and breathe some air that doesn't stink so bad." Just before walking out of the brig chamber, Lyssa turned back toward the three prisoners who suddenly let out continuous ear splitting screams.

Bob sealed the brig then asked, "What did you do? Why the hell were they all screaming like that?"

Lyssa gave him a grim smile. "I gave them a taste of their own medicine. Right now they all believe that they're sitting in huge cauldrons of boiling water being cooked by the very people they've been eating."

Bob grinned. "Now that's what I'd call poetic justice at its best, Lyssa. They were both still smiling when they walked onto the bridge.

Cassandra shook her head with a soft smile. "I had Selena whip up a couple of glasses of Ambrosia for you two. I figured you'd both need it after the shit I know you saw. But it seems you've found your own way to deal with it. What gives?"

When Bob explained what Lyssa had done; everyone laughed. Cassandra said, "That's absolutely perfect; I love it!

Bob tapped his intercom and said, "Attention all decks. We're still at DEFCON one. But there isn't any immediate danger. Return to your regular schedule and rest while you can. We've located the enemy and we know who they are. We've got some planning to do, and I expect we'll be going into battle early tomorrow morning." Bob turned to Cailin, "lock her down, and let's go home for the night."

Lyssa looked at Bob in shock. "You're not leaving anyone on watch?"

Cailin grinned. "Sure he is me. I won't be here physically but I'll still be monitoring every shipboard system. I'm even scanning every subspace channel listening for enemy chatter. I'll know if something's heading our way long before it gets here."

They had all just sat at the table in the dining room when Cailin said, "Lyssa you might want to talk to Sue again. A security guard at Dunn's warehouse complex just called in a tip about a large group of men gathering at the main storage facility."

Bob spoke up. "Cailin, we've got some time yet. Take Lyssa to the war room. That way she can talk to Sue, and watch as the raids go down in real time."

Lyssa was shocked again. "You can actually do that?" She jumped up out of her seat and surprised Bob with another lip lock as Cassandra giggled at the look on Bob's face. Lyssa grabbed Cailin's hand and said, "Come on, show where this war room is. Let's get this show on the road."

When Cailin patched Lyssa through to Sue, Lyssa told Sue everything Cailin had told her. Sue replied, "Yeah, I know. I just got that tip myself. I'm trying to figure out the best way to change my plans. I wish to hell I knew what I was up against here."

"You can either walk Sue through it all, or give me permission to access your main computer and she'll be able to see everything for herself, "Cailin told Lyssa.

"Sue, Cailin's gonna show you everything we're seeing, stand by it'll only take a few seconds." When Cailin nodded, Lyssa continued, "As you can see, they've left heavily armed guards at all their houses. But I think that's just to divert you from the main target. My best guess is they figure if you found out what they're up to, you'd hit the homes first, buying them the time they need to act. If I were you, I'd hit the houses last. Draw a couple of companies of Special Forces from Admiral Abrams, and throw everything you've got into raiding the warehouse. If you hit them hard and fast, they'll never see it coming. I'd put a couple of fighters in the air too, because there's an armored shuttle on the warehouse roof. Those aren't orders, Sue. They're just suggestions based on what I'm seeing. You're the one in command there, not me. So do what you think is best."

"Thanks for not making it an order, Sis. Because I think you're only partially right. Yes, the warehouse is a major target. We can't let that many traitors run around loose. But I don't think it's THE most important target. I know those five a hell of a lot better than you do; especially Dunn. He'd be the first one to sacrifice his men to save his own skin. If Cailin can zoom in on screen five I'll show you what I'm talking about, Thank you Cailin. This is Materson's estate. The man absolutely hates dogs. He thinks they're vile creatures that have no place in a civilized society. So why are there more than a dozen of them paroling the perimeter? Notice that all the guards are wearing our latest military tech armor, and that they're equipped with the very latest weaponry. Now look on the roof. Those are AMG90's our newest automatic combat lasers capable of continuously firing high powered laser blasts with no cool down time.

All of those weapons and equipment are part of a major shipment that was hijacked the other day. It also means that they have self-guided surface to air missiles somewhere. On top of that the place is teaming with innocent women because Masterson only hires female employees. Seizing that estate is gonna be very costly both in terms of casualties, and destroyed equipment."

Bob had been standing in the doorway listening to the entire conversation. He stepped into camera view and said, "Hi there, Sue. It looks like you've got a couple of really nasty messes on your hands. I can offer you some options that will make things easier for you and will save lives. But as Lyssa has said, you're the one in command."

"Hey, Bob, it's great to see you again. Sorry we keep running into each other in the middle of one crisis or another. I really wish we could meet sometime under more pleasant circumstances. Be that as it may, I have some idea of what you can do. So if you have any ideas, I'd sure love to hear them. I'd also appreciate any help you can give."

"I know what you mean, Sue. Things get a bit crazy at times. But they can't stay that way forever. Sooner or later we'll all get the chance to sit and have a pleasant chat over dinner. Right now I've got my own batch of assholes to deal with. But your problems are fairly easy for me to solve. The easiest thing to do would be to put all the assholes to sleep, disarm them and toss them on Mars with all the other shitheads I have there. If you let me take one of your old starships you have decommissioned. I can dump it somewhere in deep space and set off its warp core. You can present all your evidence to the public, claim they stole the starship and maybe even offer a reward for information. That way you can just send your troops in and free the women, grab all the weapons and gear then just say they must've gotten wind of your plans and took off before you got there. The other option is to just put them to sleep and let you do all the work. But even in prison, men that powerful don't just fade away. I'm fairly sure that they've all got a shit ton of hidden assets somewhere, and plenty of people they can use to buy their escape."

"I think I like your first suggestion better, Bob, The only problem is that your gonna have to shut down starship control for at least ten minutes. Otherwise you won't be able to get the starship away without it being tracked. What do you think, Lyssa?"

"It's your decision to make, Sue. Personally, I love it. All the problems go away without any loss of life. We've got plenty of friendly reporters so the story will be easy to get out. No matter how much the others dig the only thing they'll find is what you tell them. As far as starship control goes all Bob has to do is trip the main breakers. It'll take them about fifteen minutes to reboot the whole system. I'd suggest using the old Harvey for the 'getaway' ship. She was only decommissioned a few days ago so the scrap crews haven't even gotten to her yet. I'd also still do all the raids you have planned and make sure you make them look damn good."

"Okay, Bob let's go with the first plan. Do your thing and I'll send the raiding parties in about twenty minutes from now. I can't thank you enough for this one, Bob. I owe you big time."

"Nah, you don't owe me a thing, Sue. Like Lyssa said to me; that's what families do; they help each other when they can. Your problems are all solved now, Sue. You can clean up what's left whenever you get around to it. By the way, has the Seeker been updated yet?"

"Not quite, Bob. She's in space dock right now. Most of her upgrades are installed but there's still about two hours worth of work left to be done on her. I can send her to you when she's finished if you need her. But you should know that this will be Commander Molloy's first cruise as her captain."

"I'm not the least bit worried about Commander Molloy. If you put her in command of one of your starships, I know damn well that she's responsible and knows how to follow orders. I don't expect the Seeker will be involved in combat operations but having a cloaked starship that can scout ahead for us would be an added bonus."

"Okay, Bob, I'll draw up orders temporally placing Commander Molloy and the Seeker under your command. As soon as the Seeker's out of space dock I'll send her your way."

Bob thanked Sue then had Cailin close the channel. He took a deep breath then said, "Cailin, honey, I honestly hate to do this to you. But once again I really need your unique talents. I want you to link minds with me and Lyssa and gather every bit of information you can about our enemies. After that you're gonna have to check with Cassandra just to make sure we didn't miss anything important. I have to warn you, what you're about to see is extremely sickening, so you might wanna take a minute and prepare yourself for the worst things you've ever seen."

"Don't worry, Master. I'll be fine. The battle droid in me can handle just about anything." Cailin did gag a few times during the mind link, but overall she handled it okay. When Bob broke the mind link, Cailin hugged him and said, "you were right, Master; that's some really nasty shit. It was a little tough for me to handle at first; but I'm okay. Let's get back to the dining room so I can link up with Cassandra. Then I'll compile all of this garbage into some useful information."

After scanning Cassandra's mind, Cailin sat quietly for a minute or so then said, "okay, I'm ready, Master. I could just explain things but I think you'd all understand better if I showed you what I was talking about as we went along. If you could create an eight by eight foot video screen on the back wall, that would be perfect, Master."

Once Bob created the screen, Cailin began, "this species calls themselves 'Trogs.' They weren't originally a sentient race. In fact they were snakes that were smaller than the average python on Cailin." She showed a picture of a snake similar to a Boa Constrictor about four feet long. "This is what the Trogs once looked like." Cailin replaced the snake with a picture of a male and female that looked almost like a human except for the long ears and pig like snout. "These were the original inhabitants of the Trog home world. They called themselves Kindles, and were a pretty advanced race in most areas. Though much like humans, they were divided into nation/states that were almost constantly at war with each other. I can't give an exact time frame, but somewhere around fifty thousand years ago a major worldwide war broke out. Nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons devastated the planet. The cause of the war was that one nation had developed a rudimentary star drive probably capable of about warp two at the most and refused to share the technology. The few that survived the war were hideously deformed and some kind of biological reaction created the Trogs. Their intelligence may have come from eating the deformed bodies of the Kindles or perhaps by a possible merging of DNA from radiation or other factors. There's no way to tell for sure without DNA samples from both species.