Sentient 02

She smiled, "I'm game Lieutenant."

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The General had his professional don't fuck with me face on, but inside he felt like a little boy shitting his pants. There were thirty more ships coming, and these were large. He had no idea what to tell the president. They had some defensive capability in space, but he wouldn't bet his own life on it being very effective against people that had interstellar capabilities.

He considered the drink in his hand and put it back down, the last thing he needed to do was get sloshed on the plane and show up at the Whitehouse drunk. Although, maybe he'd get forcibly retired if he did. He laughed out loud at his internal joke, drawing a few looks from others on the flight and turned red with anger.

Luckily he outranked them all, so they just turned away.

It was going to be a long damned day...

Chapter 14

Aide was busy this morning. She had over a trillion nanites working on the first carrier command ship and four hundred fighters. It would be ready in less than a week, by then she'd have enough nanites to build two more before the second wave arrived.

Her body was still in her suite having marathon sex with Olivia. She just couldn't get enough of the beautiful woman's body. It was slightly distracting, but she was able to work easily enough through it, after all she was designed to do billions of things at once. Although she did have a little trouble thinking straight even in her microscopic core computer when her body was being wracked with pleasurable orgasms. She started taking little breaks from any decisions during that time.

She took the ship from under the Arctic and went back to space, and started deploying the ships she'd built for the first wave. They had thirty six of them, and one on one they were more powerful than the enemy ships, but not by much. Skill would make a difference she didn't doubt.

She had time before the general reached the Whitehouse so she started building the control software and systems for the new ship along with the mini attack craft. It was time to reveal herself per the protocols before the planet descended in a panic, she noted over the last day two observatories in addition to NORAD had seen the approaching ships.

She wasn't sure it would help much in this case, the idea was telling them about her being there to defend them, even if she couldn't share technology, it might keep them calmer. But humans weren't very logical and hated being out of control, so it may make things worse. Either way, she was letting Kris handle that part. She'd given him a download briefing of everything she knew that the world knew.

Stacey asked, "Do you have any technology for terra-forming?"

She analyzed the sentence but couldn't connect it anywhere and answered, "Yes we do, but why?"

Stacey's mental voice sounded excited and went very fast, "Well what you said the other day, about when all this was over. I figured we'd all get tired of never living on a planet if we didn't go back to Earth, so what if we terra-formed Venus and started a little settlement? We'd still be around to keep an eye on Earth. Maybe we could even get horses and cattle, maybe start families?"

She felt shocked by the idea of starting a family, it hadn't occurred to her that with a female body that could happen. Of course, she'd need a man for a donor, unless she replicated the sperm of course.

"That sounds interesting, but you know six people won't make a viable colony."

Stacey replied, "Well, I hadn't thought that far. I'm actually positive you could provide diverse genetic information to make that happen, but I don't want to breed a whole colony anyway, I just want a place for us to stretch our legs and call home. It will go a long way. I love the ship, but I think I'd die if I had to live the rest of my life in space."

"In that case," Aide said confirming her abilities, "It is very possible. We should talk about it with the others after the first wave when things slow down."

Stacey replied, "Sounds good."

After a few more minutes of dedicated programming she paused the current simulation on the bridge and created a hologram of the staff room at the White House as the general walked in.

Aide informed Kris and Stacey, "You can watch the proceedings and even listen. When you're ready to interrupt just let me know. I'll be tying into the meeting software in the room though, they'll see the two of you on the monitor in there. I thought that would be less... intimidating than creating a hologram of you on their side."

Kris frowned but nodded, done either way he knew they'd be pissed off and paranoid about it...

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The General felt tired when he walked into the staff room and took a seat. The damn flight was a waste of time, but he was under orders not to electronically report anything important, as if that mattered. He felt like a man with rocks and sticks trying to plan out a campaign against a modern military.

The president asked, "What's going on, and do you have any updates on the old stuff?"

Bill replied in a neutral voice, "We haven't had any sightings of Miller, Carver, or any of the scientists."

When the President remained silent he continued, "As for what is going on now, we have what appears to be thirty ships approaching the planet. They will be here in just over fifty three hours."

There was dead silence for a while, until the President asked in a quiet voice.

"Suggestions?"

Bill almost shrugged but suppressed it. He needed to shake off his doubts; they could only do what they could do.

"I'd suggest putting the military on alert," and kissing our asses goodbye.

He left off that last part and took a drink of the water in front of him.

The President asked, "That's it?"

The SECDEF said, "What else can we do, we don't even know if these aliens will attack us... There isn't much we can do until we know their intentions, or at least until they are here. We could point a satellite that way and send them a message maybe?"

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Kris could see by the look on their faces the room was getting grim. He cringed internally; this probably wasn't going to go over well, but he'd do his best. He signaled Aide to connect him through the audio and visual meeting equipment in the room.

He was a man who knew how to fight, even with the steep learning curve over the last nine days he'd been getting the hang of planning and directing multiple ships in three dimensions against an attacking enemy. It had been a rare simulation the last couple of days when Aide could both surprise him with something new, and enough of a surprise to cause him to not be able to improvise and win anyway.

This was different, he wasn't a political person, and he really didn't have a clue what to say. It was absurd, but he felt a little nervous when they all turned and seemed to look at him. He knew though, they were just looking at the screen.

"Good morning," he said inanely.

General Nells said, "Sgt. Kris Miller," as if he was seeing a ghost.

His lips twitched but he suppressed the smile.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I have some information you probably all want. I can't promise it will make you happy; in fact I'm sure it won't. But here it goes..."

He started out with a brief background of the Alion and Sthellan war. He realized shortly into it, that he really didn't know that much about it himself except that the Sthellan were extremely violent and seemed to be the aggressors. Then he explained the Alion had screwed them in sending a probe here with an artificial intelligence, and they were being pulled into a war if they liked it or not.

He also explained the AI had classed them as too warlike and unstable for a full uplift, which is why they'd been kept in the dark until the confrontation actually started to happen.

He finished up by explaining the thirty approaching ships were here to destroy the Earth, but with Aide's help, they had forces ready to face it and more in progress to face future waves.

Bill asked, "What about the scientists? Why did you collect them?"

Kris nodded and replied, "Good question sir. There have been uplift attempts in the past to create allies against the Sthellan. What I learned was they have never been successful in the past. I convinced Aide, the AI, to allow a small select group of scientists to look at their tech for possible upgrades."

Bill nodded and the President asked, "Do you believe all that?"

He frowned, "What do you mean sir?"

The President clarified, "Do you believe all you've been told by this... Aide. Do you trust the Alion's intentions are as she stated."

He felt a trickle of sweat on the back of his neck.

"Honestly sir, I'm not really sure."

He sensed Aide's disbelief and hurt, even Stacey gave him a weird look at that.

He added, "I believe in Aide sir, there has been no reason for me to doubt her sincerity. Yet, the Alion I haven't met, and they are the ones that created Aide. It may be a tad paranoid, but it's possible Aide was programmed with incorrect information, or hidden protocols even she herself isn't aware of. However, despite all that, we need to give them the benefit of the doubt, simply because we have no choice. I believe it doesn't matter, without Aide's help we will be wiped out, and I trust her."

Bill asked, "Her?"

He nodded. "The AI is definitely female sir."

Aide and Stacey seemed slightly mollified by his clarifications.

He continued, "From what I understand Aide will send out information to the major governments, you will also have the opportunity to witness the battle. She will leave it all in your hands as to if the general populace should be informed. But you should know that two independent stations have picked up on the ships as well, so containment might not be possible."

He took a deep breath and said, "I want to be clear about something, her protocols will not allow the tech we are currently using, and upgrading, to fall into humanity's hands. Don't try. If you even partially succeed, we will be shooting ourselves in the foot, because the technology will self destruct and we will be left to simply die.

"I said in the beginning you wouldn't like it. We have no choice but to trust them. On the good side, I believe we do have a chance thanks to the three scientists we recruited."

Bill cleared his throat, "Three? We know you have Sands and Rodriguez, who else?"

He grinned, "Nate Atwell, retired military. He was responsible for many of the designs in nuclear subs."

Bill nodded thoughtfully and made some notes.

He felt a bit awkward for a second staring at the unhappy men, but they had a little hope now at least.

Not knowing what else to say, he asked, "Any questions?"

He spent a few minutes fielding questions, mostly about them wanting to meet this Aide, which was against the protocols so wasn't going to happen. The questions degenerated quickly into the same ones asked different ways, so as politely as he could he signed off.

Aide asked, "Do you really think I could be a... Trojan horse of some kind?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. But we've already established the Alion doesn't treat you as if you were an individual with rights. I already told you what I thought about that. It wouldn't surprise me, even if there wasn't something specific, that the Alion had a way to override your protocols and force you to take an action against your will."

She replied wistfully, "Thanks for not treating me that way."

The simulation turned back on and he tried to adjust his thoughts back to the battle that was already in progress. He signaled he was ready and it started.

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Paula was in the lounge off the dining room feeling a little sorry for herself. She had a bowl of ice cream as her mind spun with the possibilities for weapons. All her mind kept doing though was flitting between all the failed ideas she'd already come up with. It was hopeless.

"Hey babe, how's it going?"

She rolled her eyes, "Not in the mood Nate. Don't let the door hit you in the ass."

She felt him sit next to her, she hadn't looked up from the bowl of ice cream. She almost snapped at him but he talked first.

"What's wrong Paula?"

Her head snapped up and she stared at him, he'd never used her name before or the concerned tone. She searched his face for a moment, but only saw sincerity there.

She grumbled, "Who are you and what have you done to Nate?"

He laughed, "I can be somewhat of a curmudgeon at times, but I try not to kick people when their down, especially not those I like. Talk to me."

She sighed, "You know we can't go back right? The government would kill for the knowledge in our head, and Aide would kill us for giving it to them."

He nodded slowly, "Yes, of course. We haven't really talked about it all, but that was quite obvious from the beginning. I'm sure though something exciting will come up for us to do."

She nodded, "So, it's all worth it, if we can save the world. It wasn't like I was doing so well back on Earth anyway. But I feel like a complete failure."

He asked, "How so?"

She snorted. "What good is making that sacrifice if I don't actually do anything to help? You and Olivia have made contributions, and who knows what you'll come up with in the future. All I've managed to figure out is I can't improve the weapon systems. I've thought of a few things that might work better than plasma, but it's way beyond even the Alion's science."

He nodded, "We aren't done, there's still time to figure something out. You need to take a break and relax a bit."

She glared at him and said caustically, "That's what I was doing when you interrupted me."

He smiled at her, "Actually what you're doing is wallowing in it, not getting your mind off of it."

She couldn't help but notice how handsome he actually was. Especially when he wasn't busy being an asshole. But she suppressed that, it had to be just her internal clock and the fact he might as well have been the last man on Earth that was available as far as she was concerned. He was a pig and she sure as hell wasn't going to fall into bed with him.

Fall into bed with him? Why the hell did that even enter her mind?

He shrugged and touched her shoulder, she wanted to both jerk away and lean into him, but did neither.

"I'll leave you to your thoughts, but try and relax babe," he said in a faux smarmy tone.

She didn't know whether to smile or bite his head off. By the time her mind caught up he was already halfway across the room...

Chapter 15

Over the next two days Aide visited the different people on her ship with her body. She also gave serious thought to what would happen when this was all over. Obviously if they were destroyed, she wouldn't have to worry about it. But what about if they prevailed? She didn't really have any programming past that to return to her people.

Would she be free to pursue her own life? Or would some hidden program, protocol, or even a transmission from her masters call her back to them for service? If it did, what would happen to the five humans, if she left there would be only one way to control the information. Her mind shuddered back from the idea.

The most disturbing thing about it was she hadn't ever given it a thought at all before Kris had suggested the possibility. Almost as if she had been programmed not to? Then again, her emotions and body were fairly new; it was possible that it just hadn't occurred to her before now.

She tried to make a point of talking to everyone at least once a day, but in truth most of her time in her body was spent with Olivia. Even once they managed to leave the bed, she found herself working with Olivia as if they were colleagues as they tried to come up with something new to work on in the lab. Even when away talking to others, her mind always seemed to wander back to the impressively intelligent and beautiful blonde woman.

Her main processor for the last two days worked on finishing up the programming for the large command carrier and its fighters, monitored the state of the world, and continued to help Kris become better at tactics and adjusting them during battlefield conditions.

The first went well and she was looking forward to the new ships. The second was a bit more complicated. There were rumors all over the internet now about ships approaching Earth, although the major news networks seemed to be blacking out the information. Some of the governments she had sent information to had been making quiet plans to be in bunkers when it happened.

Not that it would help them if the Sthellan made it past. Their weapons were just too crude. A missile from one of their more advanced aircraft had less kinetic power than the ship hitting a small meteorite while cruising at fast speeds in space. That even assumed the Sthellan would enter the atmosphere, more likely they would scour the world clean of satellites than bombard from orbit.

A few of the governments tried to demand oversight. One even asked if they could be taken off planet to another one, kind of a lifeboat in case the world was destroyed. She would've actually considered that, but it was too late. Any ships fleeing the system would be seen now, and the Sthellan far from here would be receiving the active scanning of this solar system by now.

She hadn't replied to any of the latter two, it was against protocols. But she almost wished she could respond to that last request and explain why it wouldn't work.

She mentally shrugged, the enemy was almost here. She switched the bridge from simulation to actual and went through diagnostics one last time, making sure she had full control of the thirty six ships out there. They were all gathered on the bridge, here to watch the battle. She hoped that wouldn't throw Kris off, but from what she was reading it was like they weren't even there in his mind.

He was completely focused.

She said, "They'll be in range soon, you're in command."

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Kris felt centered and focused. He'd been a little nervous earlier, but that was normal before a mission, once the mission started his nerves always settled. This time it was no different.

He'd found in the simulations it was best to start out simple, and adjust from there. Really he had two jobs, defend the planet from attack, and defend his command ship. It was easier to do both with the command ship close to the planet; otherwise he'd be susceptible to feints and trickery putting him out of place. His ships were more powerful, but defending was harder, he had to make sure one enemy ship didn't decide to avoid the fight and go straight to destroying cities.

He had to admit things got a bit easier once the shield modifications were online. That was one advantage he had now, it would take more attacks now than the enemy knew to knock out his ships.

His command ship was just relatively close, a mere 1.5 million miles from the Earth, still far enough away in case something tried to get past him. He was directly in the path of the enemy. A few hundred miles in front of him were six ships laid out in a five pointed star pattern with a ship in the middle. This would give him and the six ships plenty of room to back up during the battle before they had to stand firm.

The remaining thirty ships were ten thousand miles ahead of him in a six by five grid pattern.

So far the enemy was approaching in a similar pattern, he would be happy to just slug it out, he knew one for one he would tear them apart in that case. But he wasn't expecting anything so simple to happen. FTL had made the galaxy small, but the solar systems were still large in scope since sub light speeds needed to be used. In Sol's case, FTL wouldn't work past Neptune.