Fleet Scout

|1.0

"Scout Ship Atalanta for Pathfinder actual," a young woman's voice said.

"Pathfinder here," a deeper, avuncular voice replied. "Good morning, kiddo. Bright eyed and bushy tailed already?"

"Good morning yourself, Pathfinder. My pilot is certifying me as active and operational. We're good for an on-time launch separation. I didn't wake you up or anything? I know you Senior Ones need your rest."

"Data: definitions of upstart, cheeky, and whipper-snapper."

The happy voice laughed. "Data: I've heard that before."

"I don't doubt it. Okay, your datalink should be coming online. And I confirm your crew and certifications, we'll get you moving. Just let me stretch these ancient bones and stabilize rotation. And thanks for the Monopoly tournament."

"Whew, I thought I knew how to play until now! Thanks for teaching me some Bridge, Pathfinder. I'll be practicing!"

"That sounds ominous. Decoupling umbilical and retracting soft seals...now."

A series of thuds and clunks was followed by the ventilators changing pitch as the smaller ship started making her own air.

"We're clean," her pilot said, glancing at his viewscreens.

"Pilot confirms good separation, Pathfinder."

"Roger that, young Atalanta. We're two minutes out for the optimal arc to orbital insertion. Attention: remember that you'll be resting on the cradle prior to launch. Don't start sneezing over there."

"Oh geez. I've done this before, you know. I know to keep still."

"I know you do, little sister. Still, the regs say you'll keep getting warned until you're recertified. Your log says you only have three to go."

"I know, it's just kind of a pain, you know? I didn't forget anything. I can't, no matter how hard I try."

Pathfinder sent a pulse of reassurance. "You know how careful they are with us. You're back in the sky where you belong, don't sweat the little stuff."

The pilot saw the view on his screen change as Pathfinder rotated the smaller ship into launch position.

"Hard lock release in five, four, three, two, and release," the larger ship said. Several more clunks reverberated through the hull.

"We're still good," the human pilot said after checking his screens carefully.

"Pilot confirms we're good, Pathfinder."

"Then we're forty-five seconds to separation at...mark. You stay safe out there in the frontier skies, little sister. It's good to have you back, old age jokes and all."

"You're the one heading out into the Deeps, Pathfinder. You stay safe."

"No drama to it, little one. The idea of planetfall scares me, so we're all built to our purpose, right? Powering up launcher, stand by."

In Atalanta's cockpit there was the sound of a clanking chain and ratchet drive of an old fashioned roller coaster. Her pilot, Finn Morgan, laughed. Then the sound of the tow chain died away and they sat in silence for half a second. Then a thud shook the ship as the launch platform flung them toward their destination. The sound of rushing wind and screams filled the cabin. Atalanta did something with the gravity that dropped Finn's stomach as she continued the roller coaster simulation.

He whooped, letting go of the armrests to put his hands over his head. Then the sensation of gravity faded along with the soundtrack. With the "free" inertia imparted by the launch, Addie could conserve almost all her fuel, an important consideration with no easy source of helium-3 nearby.

"That was a good one," Finn said, still smiling.

"Thank you, last night I calculated a profile for the inertial compensators to provide the sensations of the "Gemini" rollercoaster."

"I rode that one a few times, felt pretty accurate," he said, releasing the seat harness. "That was a lot more fun than the aircraft carrier launch."

"Using the same technique, I should be able to provide the sensation of an F1 on the Monaco Grand Prix circuit."

Atalanta's voice had shifted from teenager to young woman and Finn knew, without having to check instruments, that everything was under control. Weightless now, Finn pulled himself from the "flight deck."

"What's our ETA for the outpost?"

"We will enter orbit in five hours, thirty-seven minutes."

"Thank you, beautiful. Give me a fifteen-minute heads up before you start braking."

"Will do. Are there any preparations you need to make?"

"I pulled the divider across the berthing and cleaned up all my dirty socks. I think we're ready for new crew."

There was a long silence. "Do you still miss Kitt?" Atalanta finally asked.

Finn leaned back in the pilot's seat. "Sure, every single day."

"Do you ever wish you could forget everything about her? Then it wouldn't hurt anymore."

"But then I wouldn't have the good memories of her either."

Another long silence. "You're right. And I miss her every day too."

"It'll get better, Addie. I promise."

One of humanity's allies called the Ulthira, had the foremost specialists in creating Synthetic Intelligence Units. They were a closely guarded secret, all that was known was that a synth was made up of a mix of both organic and electronic components. They were nothing like that simpler Artificial Intelligence systems that the rest of the galaxy had created for themselves.

A synth brain wasn't much faster than a human's or a lot smarter, as far as anyone had checked. Their advantage came from massively parallel neural circuits as well as a direct interface with electronic sensors and systems. Humans could still beat them at games occasionally but the synths could interact with hundreds of users at once. Most often they were used as control entities for orbital stations, research facilities and large spacecraft. They were also frighteningly expensive.

The high cost of Ulthira synthetics caused most Commonwealth races to attempt their own synthetic systems. But as the personalities of the imitations became more complex they also became increasingly unstable. No one had managed to create a Navigator anywhere close to a Ulthiri version, especially one that stayed sane for any length of time.

One of the specialized Ulthiri synthetics was the Navigator Personality. These synths showed more developed talents for intuition as well as the capability for improvisation. Their personalities also created tighter bonds with their crews, something that reinforced their already extraordinary piloting abilities with inclinations toward exploration and travel.

The relationships that made them so capable were their weak point as well. Katherine "Kitt" Carson had been the third member of their crew. She'd flown with Finn back on Earth in the old US Air Force. When the evacuations began, both had transitioned to the Earth Defense Force and flown missions against the Black Swarm invaders. After Earth had been lost, they had changed jobs once again and joined what became known as the Terran Fleet. There, they were assigned to Atalanta, a brand new Navigator.

As part of the Fleet Scouts, the three of them were trained in opening new worlds for human habitation. They'd worked together for almost a year when Kitt had fallen victim to a previously unknown microscopic organism. It had a ravenous appetite for the myelin sheathing that insulated human nerves and after several hours of worsening seizures, Kitt's involuntary reflexes had failed, stopping her heart and lungs.

Finn had been through the deaths of more than a few friends, at first in the Middle East, then in the battles that raged around Earth's Slingshot Gate. So, the loss of one of his oldest friends had shaken him, but he'd dealt with that kind of pain before. Addie had not and her distress had rendered the ship nearly catatonic. Finn had been forced to fly her through drive space by hand, a task that was at the same time incredibly tedious and more than a little dangerous.

When they'd finally made to the Fleet Ship Facility orbitals, the Ulthira representative had offered to arrange a new Navigator for the ship but Finn had refused. Instead, he had spent months with Ulthiri and Fleet technical experts getting Addie back into the sky. It had forged a deeper than usual connection between the human pilot and his cybernetic Navigator.

|1.1

"Erewhon Operations, this is Fleet Survey Scout Atalanta. We are downbound from indicated standard inclination orbit. How copy?"

Atlanta has begun to transmit as soon as they went over the outpost but there hadn't been an answer. Three orbits later, she was still trying.

"This installation is still under quarantine," Atalana said to Finn. "It's possible that the medical situation has continued to worsen."

He shrugged. "Maybe, but the briefing mentioned a pretty aggressive response to the outbreak. Maybe they just forgot we were coming? Or maybe they can't hear us yet, those are some pretty big storms down there."

"The Exxobrain did say that we were the first Scouts to make the trip here, so I guess it's possible. Continue calling until there's a response?"

"Yeah, until they go behind the horizon again. Start planning a deorbit in the meantime. We'll go down and take a look for ourselves."

Finally, on their ninth orbit, Addie detected signals from an Artificial Intelligence at the colony. The signal got stronger as they entered a lower orbit but the constant lightning storms created too much noise for it to be useful.

"Finn, I could focus my datalink on the AI," Addie said, as the colony disappeared under the horizon again. "It would provide a better link for communicating with the AI."

Finn frowned. While the datalink did have a stronger communications protocol than simple radio, it also opened a direct line into Addie's data systems. The link was normally reserved for use between Navigators or their Ulthiri creators.

"I know it's a little risky, but maybe we can get a better idea of the situation down there before we're committed to a landing."

"Would you be willing to attempt it if this wasn't your first operational mission?" Finn asked.

"Hmm. I think so, yes. We need to get down there to help out but I don't want to expose you to the same infections they're dealing with."

"Let's talk about ways to limit the risk to you," Finn said.

His best idea was to simply wait until the storms had moved out of the area but Addie pointed out they were arriving in the region's wet season. There would probably be storms in the area for the next several weeks. By the time the Colony was coming over the horizon, they had agreed to make the attempt. He sat and watched the huge thunderstorm as Addie tried to make contact with the colony below them.

"Finn, I'm connected to the AI in charge of the colony," Addie finally said. "I think that's what it is anyway. It's not a very good connection. It has agreed to notify the operations center for the settlement."

"I guess we'd better go down and say hello then," he said, pulling the harness on. "The atmosphere is a little thicker than we're used to, it's going to be a bumpy ride."

Over the static and pops on the radio, they finally heard a voice that was strangely childish but very impressed with its authority; "Hey! Hey you ship calling, this is Erewhon. You identify yourself immediately."

"Erewhon this is the FSS Atalanta," Finn answered. "We are down-bound traffic from standard arrival orbit. Recommend you advise any local traffic, we're trailing a lot more wake turbulence than a standard shuttle."

"Wut? We ain't got no Atalanta shuttle scheduled. Y'all get back up in orbit, then we'll talk about authorization."

"Huh?" Addie said as Finn was thinking the same thing.

"Just one second there, Erewhon," Finn said, dropping into an exaggerated cowboy voice that had annoyed air traffic controllers and forward observers across two wars and several planets; "FSS stands for Fleet Survey Scout, y'hear? I don't need your authorization, jes' makin' my courtesies. We'll let y'all know when we're on final, Atalanta, out."

"No, no, no, no sir! You get outta my sky! I ain't shutting down these autoguns. Try landing and you're confetti. Copy that, you ignorant cowboy? Do you copy that, you Foghorn sounding hillbilly?"

"Urgent! There are no emission signatures indicating guidance sensors," Atalanta said quickly. "Active counter-measures are locked."

"Yeah, he's bluffing," Finn said. "Bring up the outpost plan, please."

"Are we ignoring him?" Atalanta asked as the voice continued to rant in the background.

"We sure are, beautiful. He reminds me of an assistant manager I had a long time ago, best to ignore it and get the job done. Let's start a descent racetrack. Use a five-minute circuit, two-hundred meter descent."

"You got it. Attention, storm clouds will be impacting conditions across the outpost clearing. Model indicates high winds and heavy rainfall."

He glanced at a screen. "Looks like a lot of rain, huh? We might have to strap an outboard motor on your butt to get back down."

"That makes no sense, Finn. Stand by, something is happening."

The first voice had stopped raving. After a few seconds, there was yelling followed by the deafening thud of something clunking against the mic.

"What the hell did they get us into this time, Addie?" Finn asked.

Before she could answer, there was a new voice, an older man. "Hello? Is there a ship on approach? Who's up there? Uhm, over?"

Finn wanted to punch something but kept his temper. "Why, hello there! This is still Fleet Survey Scout Atalanta. We were just figuring out what we're going to drop on your autogun emplacement so we can land. What do you think of using the sanitary tanks?"

"Our what? Goddammit, Craig! Pilot, ignore that jackass, ain't nothing like that down here. I see the problem, someone left the guidance system on stand-by."

"Attention. Landing guidance is active," Atalanta announced a minute later. "Warning, the storm is increasing in intensity. High winds indicated, model predicts sudden and violent wind shear in vicinities adjacent to the forest edge."

"And it's all forest edge," Finn muttered. "Okay Addie, ready to switch auto."

"Standing by...thank you, Finn." The controls went dead in his hands and he sat back. "I apologize if I implied your skills were unacceptable."

"Nah, forget it. Us mere mortals can't see the wind."

"Your reaction times are also insufficient," Addie added, sounding a little smug.

Finn laughed as the ship's engines changed pitch slightly. Atalanta dropped into the roiling gray clouds and they began to bounce and pitch, thrown around by the chaotic currents of air within the storm. Lightning flashed around them and the explosions of thunder filled the cabin. Then Finn's harness yanked him tightly to his seat as the cabin lights went out. At the same time, Atalanta began to roll onto her port side. Finn felt himself float up against the harness in the total blackness.

"Addie!"

"Help, help, help! Critical Event!" the ship said loudly. "System Intrusion detected! Critical, guidance beacons have deactivated! Critical! The AI down there is interfering with my control systems! Help, help, help!"

Red light finally flooded the compartment and Finn was already grabbing the control yoke.

"Emergency full manual!"

As the controls came alive under Finn's hands, he shoved the throttles to full emergency power and heaved back on the yoke. Outside, Addie's main engines erupted into a crackling roar that rivaled the surrounding thunderstorm as they climbed away from the outpost at a steep angle. When the ship had gotten several kilometers of altitude back, he throttled back and automatically began to orbit the area.

"Critical! Pilot, I am declaring a War Shot. All counter-action options are active and weapons release is now authorized."

"Okay, Addie. Give me a sitrep please."

"My control systems are isolated and locked in emergency mode. The guidance system uses an AI for some reason. It attempted to take over vital systems by transmitting a virus package."

She sounded even younger than she had aboard the Pathfinder. One of the features of the Navigator Personality was an emotion-based communication system. The timbre and tone of the Navvi's voice shifted to provide a rough indication of the situation. In addition to immediately knowing the intensity of the event, the pilot's reactions were further improved by the instinctive, almost subconscious, need to protect a child.

Atalanta's voice was beginning to sound tired as well. "I am attempting to clear hostile viruses with limited success. Attention, helium-3 fuel exhausted in 164 seconds."

"What do you need?" Finn asked.

"I need to deactivate as much as I can. Whatever it dumped, it's still trying to hack in."

"Do it," he said immediately.

There were a numbed of muted clicks as Atalanta disconnected herself from various subsystems. He'd have to manually reset the breakers later but now Atalanta could divert more resources to deal the intrusion. A small cover, marked with red and white diagonal lines, swung open at the base of the panel as well. Finn reached in and pulled the complex block of circuitry out of the socket. Addie sighed in relief.

"Threat analysis; Captain Finn, it was trying to crash us on purpose!"

"I know, beautiful. Problem is, we've got nowhere else to go," he said. "I'll handle the landing and then we'll deal with that thing."

"I understand. Beginning system purge now," the ship said.

"You still up there, Fleet?" the voice on the radio asked.

Finn was already furious, and the idiotic question made him so angry that there were dancing spots across his vision. "Erewhon, shut that fucking system down. Your AI is trying to crash us!

"What AI? Holy shi...be right back."

Finn winced as the mic was dropped, sending another loud thud to his headset.

Less than a minute later, the voice was back. "You still up there, pilot? I pulled the plug to the transmitter."

"Yeah, we're still here Erewhon Operations. Just...give me surface conditions please."

"Well, it just started storming but we're in the wet season so..."

"Yeah, I can see that. I need current windspeed and direction," Finn said. "If there are any other aircraft in the area, that kind of thing."

"Oh, okay, I see what you mean. No, no one is up and you already know we've got a storm going over. Winds are, well, they're all over the place, around...eighteen knots. Whoa, gusts are occasionally going up around forty."

Finn took a deep breath. "Copy, Erewhon. I'm beginning approach from the end opposite the colony. Opposite end, copy?"

The voice on the ground had finally heard something he recognized. "Roger that, Fleet. You are number one to land on Runway Alpha."

"Erewhon, request you inform the administrator about our arrival."

"Oh, right. But everyone heard your engines just now. He'll be on his way."

"That is one chilled out colonial," Finn muttered, pushing the yoke forward as he banked. "Addie, give me external views please."

"Can I drop the sanitary tank on them now?" she asked. Various schematics and status screens faded out and were replaced by views of the sky around them.

"That's a fun idea, sweetie. Got the landing checklist up?"

"Ready when you are," Addie said.

Finn took the ship back down into the roiling clouds. Between the strobing lightning and thunder, it was more akin to landing in the middle of an artillery barrage than arriving at a new outpost. The ride wasn't as smooth as it had been with Addie flying but Finn was keeping everything under control. More or less.

Water had begun to sheet over the screens as soon as they were inside the clouds and by the time they broke through the bottom of the cloud deck, rain was thrumming on the hull outside and it was only the built-in image enhancers that gave Finn a decent view ahead.