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  “We haven’t received word,” Alden answered, “though we’re in close contact with them… as close as we can be.”

  “What about mustered Gold Empire forces?” Oliver spoke up. “Are they ready to deploy against the enemy?”

  Alden nodded. “The fleet has fallen completely under my command, and we’re set to go. I hesitate to deploy them to those places without knowing what we’re about to do, though.” He turned to Alexander. “Which leads me to a question. When can we expect Confed forces? Or MerCon for that matter?”

  “We’re ready,” Erris said. “I’ve spoken to our military wing and all ships have been accounted for. Give us a course heading and we’ll be there.”

  “That’s great.” Alden turned to Alexander. “And your side?”

  “I have a similar answer though I’m still allocating my defenses. I should be ready to make a firm commitment by the end of shift. Eight hours or so.”

  “What’s the goal?” Eliza asked. “Are we going to simply… hit them hard? Go to their homeworld? Bombard the hell out of it? Or are we looking for a peaceful solution? Do we want to parlay with the ervas?”

  “We’ve been discussing that,” Petrova said. “Our assessment back when we first discovered them suggested they would have no intention of having a peace talk. However, Trenik, the prisoner, has made it clear it’s a possibility after all. He stated the militants of his culture are out for blood, but they aren’t all like that.”

  “In other words,” Alden added, “we have to be cautious of the civilian casualties. They aren’t all out for blood. And if we want them to come around to our side we have to be mindful of our targets.”

  Noah said, “We’re not in the market of taking out civilian targets anyway. So it shouldn’t be a hardship. One problem I have is how we’ll identify one from the other. Has Trenik helped us with that?”

  “Yes.” Alexander brought up several silhouettes. “He has provided us with excellent information for our targeting databases. We can identify their military targets. Obviously civilian targets are a little harder… they don’t get built to a standard. But he’s been showing us images of his world and that’s gone a long way to filling in details.”

  Petrova asked, “How long do we need to give for repairs of major assets?”

  “Two days,” Alden said, “for our side.”

  “Same,” Noah added. “We’re close but it would be nice to get a full forty-eight hours before we throw ourselves into a real battle.”

  “At least you won’t be alone,” Alexander replied. “This time, you’ll have some serious help. It’ll be a proper military operation. No more clandestine stuff for you. Open warfare… a much simpler task all around.” He looked at the others. “Alright, let me wrap up my side of things.

  “In eight hours, I need reports from all of you as to where you’re at with your logistics, repairs, etc. Get that to me so I can update our political side. By then, my own flagship will have arrived. I’ll transfer to that vessel which will become the mobile command station for our military operations.”

  “You’re going to stay out here?” Noah asked. “Shouldn’t you return home?”

  “Probably,” Alden said. “And I’ve got his equivalent position. At this stage, he and I have decided we need to be available in this fight, Captain Markel. We need to show both sides that we’re in this just as strongly as our soldiers. Besides, loss at this stage would be catastrophic. Surviving as the leader at that point will practically be pointless.”

  Well, that’s grim as hell, Noah thought. I didn’t think of this as a final operation. “Are you suggesting the ervas intend to simply wipe us out? We have evidence they enslaved humans before.”

  “That was special,” Petrova said. “And only happened because both sides were abandoned. The ervas needed the workforce. Otherwise, those militants would’ve killed them all. So yes, we believe that our enemy consists of zealots that want to wipe us out for offending their religion.”

  “But I have confidence,” Alexander added. “I believe in our side. All of you have done extraordinary things in the last few weeks. United a nation. Saved lives. Discovered technology. Uncovered valuable intel. Saved the Confederacy. After all that, anyone who doubts our ability to win this war just hasn’t been paying attention.

  “I hope you’ll all join me in my optimism. We are a sturdy people. We’ve got our faults, our failings… but we’re rising above them. Just the fact that I’m sitting at a table with a Gold Empire official is a huge stride. I hoped we might do this someday. I’m only sad it took a tragedy to bring it about.”

  Eliza said, “Whitaker was a madman. We can all agree on that. But one thing he had right was that humanity needed a common enemy to unite. That’s on our doorstep. When this is over, I implore you to develop a new enemy, though it may be intangible. Focus on the threats to human prosperity. Fight those. Look toward the future.

  “When we have something waiting for us, we struggle all the harder for victory. I’ve always believed this and if we embrace it now, we’ll be defending a brighter future. Thank you for all being here.” Eliza smirked. “Now, I think we need to spend some time going over logistics before we break. I’d like to bring up exact numbers on the screen.”

  Noah agreed with them both on their assessment of focus. He felt inspired again. Their battle, what they focused on, would be important. One of the greatest things any of them participated in. Whether they were remembered or not, died in the line of duty or came out the other side, humanity would make a valiant stand against an invading force.

  And we’re going to give them the sort of reception they deserve. A bloody nose followed by a swift kick back into their own space. God willing, they’d negotiate some form of peace with the peaceful ervas people. Perhaps even unite with them in some meaningful way. But first, it seems we have to show them our resolve.

  They will not be happy they made us do so.

  ***

  Borden hailed the space station, sending a general computerized greeting. The thing repeated six times before someone finally acknowledged. At that point, he’d pulled the ship close but not quite in range of turrets. If they decided to attack, he wanted to get out of there fast.

  “Unidentified ship,” a woman said, “this is station Sigma Hotel Six. State your purpose.”

  “This is…” Borden sighed. “The Pegasus. My name is Captain Borden. What’s yours?”

  “Sharisa, sir. What brings you here?”

  “We noticed your buoy is down.” Borden noted they did not have any starships attached to the station. Nothing docked on the outside anyway. But if they had shuttles, why not fix the thing so they could talk? “We don’t have the parts to repair it. Can you tell us what’s going on? We need to send a message out of the system ASAP.”

  “There’s been no traffic through this system for three months,” Sharisa said. “We’re in a bit of a bind, in fact. Do you believe you can repair the buoy? Because we don’t have a shuttle to get out to it.”

  “Yes, we can do it if you have the parts.” Borden found something fishy. He couldn’t articulate the problem, but something in the back of his mind made him leery. Instinct? Or paranoia? “If you let us dock, we can grab them and take care of it. Maybe get you some help… I imagine you’re running low on supplies.”

  “We do have hydroponics,” Sharisa said, “but you’re right. We’ve only got two months of reserves left for our current crew. We’d be happy to accept your offer. Please dock at Bay Six. You’ll see the flashing lights, and I’ve got a beacon you can link up with.”

  That’s very friendly. Borden checked the signal. She set it up fast enough. “Got it. Thank you very much. We’ll be down ASAP.” He muted the line. “Vic! I don’t trust this shit. How crazy are you?”

  Vic replied, “Crazy enough to leave the ship before you get to that docking platform and enter from a different point.”

  “Excellent… you’d better get ready. I’ll get you as close as I can
to one of the maintenance entry points. We’ll dock and stall them as long as we can. Let us know when and if we’re screwed.”

  “If worse comes to worst,” Vic said, “I’ll just leave the way I came in and you can pick me up on our way out of here.”

  “I hope these people are on the level,” Borden replied. “I’d rather them be in dire straits and need help than the alternative. But either way, at least we’ve got a plan. As soon as you’re ready, we’ll start moving. Right now, I’ll perform some unnecessary system checks to buy you a few minutes.”

  Sharisa, don’t prove to be an asshole. Borden couldn’t swallow back the warning in his gut, the paranoia that suggested they were in trouble. Just be cool. For a change.

  Chapter 4

  Noah took Alexander aside after the meeting. They didn’t have long to talk, maybe five or ten minutes before the next meeting took the Marshal away. If they didn’t chat then, they may not have another chance before the conflict arose between them and the ervas. Waiting so long meant some answers may never reach the light.

  “This won’t take much time,” Noah said, “I needed…”

  “What is it?” Alexander leaned forward, taking Noah’s arm. He squeezed affectionately. “Whatever’s on your mind, go ahead. You know you can tell me.”

  “It’s hard.” Noah smirked, looking away. “What do you know about the creation of the war dogs?”

  Alexander stiffened. “As in the process behind building one?” Noah nodded. “Ah well… I mean, I’ve read the reports. I understand the basic concept. It’s fairly simple. The chassis are broken up into three different types. Each of them have a human brain inserted through a special canister that provides them access to all the systems.”

  “I get all that… the semantics. I’m asking you about the part where they extract the brain. How’s that work?”

  “Volunteers. Men and women who were on the verge of dying or had died. All military people.” Alexander shrugged. “Mostly high-ranking commanders. Minds that were educated, intelligent, stable. Solid individuals. Why? Where’s this coming from?”

  “Because…” Noah shook his head. “I’m not ready to answer that. How were they chosen? You didn’t say whether they volunteered or not.”

  “Some volunteered,” Alexander said. “Others were chosen.”

  “Yeah? Against their will?”

  “They were dead,” Alexander replied. “So they obviously weren’t given a choice.”

  “So are you telling me that the program essentially robbed graves?”

  “Technically, the brains were extracted prior to burial. Though, I mean… this is kind of in the weeds stuff. I only know so much because I read the details on a flight one day.”

  “Don’t you find that unethical?” Noah asked. “Did they do a study to find out which brains went crazy? What’s the correlation between insanity and the minds that were taken without permission?”

  “Remember that back then we were at war and that meant taking some liberties with rights. We needed those minds to build an army, Noah. Those machines made it possible to win the rebellion. To keep our enemies away from the core worlds.”

  “But did we really win?” Noah asked. “I mean, we used a bunch of machines to kick the shit out of them then just abandoned the colonies. What’s to say that it wouldn’t have ended without the bloodshed had we just left them alone? Think about the possibility that the fight may never have happened if we acknowledged them and embraced their independence.”

  “What’re you talking about?”

  “Just that we went in there for pride,” Noah replied. “We hit them, killed countless people, leveled cities, turned some of those planets into rocks where no one could live easily, then just left. We built machines out of human brains that went insane and abandoned them. Shut them off. All for what?”

  “Does this have to do with Mac?” Alexander asked. “Did he… did he go—”

  “For a time,” Noah interrupted. “We were able to shut him down and save ourselves. But then when we booted him back up for help, my man found information that led me to discover his identity. Did you know?”

  “Know what?”

  Noah sighed. “Did you know he was related to me? And when did you? Was it back when you sent me to meet him on that planet? When we found the Peck twins?”

  “I…” Alexander turned away. “I… knew. Yes.”

  “I’m incredibly confused why you didn’t tell me.”

  “I wasn’t supposed to, and I didn’t know what you’d do with the information anyway. I mean, did you intend to make friends with it? Have a birthday party? The mind was wiped. Sentimentality got me to assign that particular unit to your problem. One that I shouldn’t have indulged. And quite frankly, you shouldn’t indulge in it either.”

  Noah stared at him, unsure of what to say next.

  “Please don’t tell me you’re giving it human characteristics. You know the brain is just there to control it. There’s no sense in pretending it has feelings or memories. That device isn’t your grandfather.”

  “I don’t think you’re entirely right,” Noah said. “There are memories in there still, and if they exist, maybe… maybe more does.”

  “Don’t be sentimental like that,” Alexander warned. “You’re walking a dangerous line to start thinking that machine is anything more than what we’ve always known it to be. There’s no soul there, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

  “I don’t know if that’s true either. We encountered another one. Called itself Caesar. I have a feeling that if we delve into the background of that ‘donor’ we’d trace its quirks back to its real life. Bottom line though, I have a bad feeling we condemned a lot of people to a form of purgatory putting them in those things.”

  “Those machines are likely going to win this war for us,” Alexander replied. “You know we still have many of them stored away. They’ve been brought out of retirement. As soon as they’re loaded into the unmanned gunboats, we’ll turn them loose on the enemy. Spin the tide of battle to our side.”

  “What?” Noah huffed. “You have to be kidding. How many are you even talking about?”

  “Hundreds,” Alexander replied. “The ones closest to sane. The ones that don’t have much time.”

  “And what happens when they go over the edge?”

  “Safety protocol.” Alexander tapped the side of his head. “Every one of them has been fitted with a powerful charge that will pierce the chamber and kill the brain. We have them under control this time. There’s no more friendly fire with this round. And even if they don’t make it, what’s that matter to them? They were on ice anyway.”

  “That’s… insanely callous, I hope you realize that.”

  “Only if,” Alexander said, “you start thinking of them as something more than the machines they are. Don’t let yourself go down that path, Noah. I recognize that you think you’ve got a grandfather caught up in this mess, but I’m being straight with you… that is not the case.”

  “I guess it comes down to a moral question about what makes something human.”

  “Maybe.” Alexander tilted his head. “Everyone involved in the program to create war dogs considered the brain biological material to ensure the project worked. If anyone expressed protest over the ethical implications, those were not put in the major report. Which to me suggests they already had those arguments and came to a logical conclusion.”

  “That’s one way to look at it,” Noah said. “The other is that they didn’t care to ask the question. Or if they did, they were more concerned with bringing their vision to market.”

  “Be objective for a moment. If the war dog on the Morrigan did not have the brain of your grandfather, would you even care about this?”

  “I would like to think I have the empathy to be concerned about something that doesn’t directly impact me, yes.” Noah sighed. “Please tell me it bothers you to think about. At the very least.”

  “There are two problems with gett
ing bent out of shape over this. The first is the fact we’ve already discontinued all research and development on the war dog project. No new devices have been created in a very long time. The second issue is that we don’t have time to worry about this on the eve of war. Besides, what do you want to happen?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Just that,” Alexander said. “Let’s say I went to the government with this. What would you hope to see happen?”

  Noah started to answer but stopped himself. What could happen? They might track down those responsible for creating the war dogs and punish them. Would that matter? What sort of ethical argument would have to be won before they were even eligible for some form of penance?

  He looked away, staring at the wall.

  We’d need to debate the existence of the soul. Religion offered their opinions on it. I don’t recall the situation back then. I’m guessing they protested it… what they knew about it, at least. I suppose firing them up again might make some impact. They’d be able to march or protest. Which sounds totally counterproductive.

  “I don’t know.” Noah shrugged. “I guess… I just wanted to better understand the process. I hope we don’t ever do anything like it again.”

  “My reports from Petrova suggest we’ve gone another route. Cheated death in the case of Whitaker, Petrova, and Leavis. That sort of body modification has a bigger impact now than the war dogs did. No one would consider having their brain scooped out and placed in a machine immortality. But this treatment…”

  “Yeah, that has a huge implication. And from what I understand, it doesn’t work on everyone.”

  “Even when the ervas problem is dealt with, we’ve got plenty to work on.” Alexander patted his shoulder. “Moral implications of all kinds are waiting for us to address. Right now, you and I need to be military men. Soldiers until the fighting is over. Once it is, we can revisit these talks. We can’t undo the past, but we’ll make the future better.”

  I’ll hold you to that. Noah nodded instead. “Thank you for chatting with me. I appreciate it.”